Walz local weather report took inspiration from California

The run-up to the 2024 presidential election has been supercharged by hot-button points starting from abortion to immigration. However for a lot of voters, local weather change stays top-of-mind because the nation continues to grapple with devastating storms, explosive wildfires and record-breaking warmth waves.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic operating mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has a formidable observe report on the subject of local weather motion, consultants and advocates say. Throughout his tenure as governor, Walz has handed dozens of initiatives centered on clear vitality and transportation, air and water high quality, and environmental justice — lots of which mirror California’s personal bold objectives.

“California’s fame as a local weather chief is well-deserved, and Walz is an ideal instance of what that appears like,” mentioned Mike Younger, senior political and organizing director with California Environmental Voters.

“It’s really an amazing pairing as a result of on the high of the ticket is anyone from California who’s additionally been a champ,” he mentioned, referring to Harris’ personal local weather report. “And local weather and clear vitality and environmental justice are key areas the place nationally they need to proceed to steer, and definitely in California and Minnesota they need to proceed to steer.”

Transitioning Minnesota towards clear vitality and lowering the state’s fossil gas emissions have been a few of Walz’s high environmental priorities as governor. His Local weather Motion Framework, launched in 2022, notes that “local weather change is an existential menace for all folks in Minnesota.”

Amongst its said objectives are slashing Minnesota’s greenhouse fuel emissions in half by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. (California has set an identical objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.)

To get there, Walz has labored to speed up renewable vitality tasks within the state, together with current laws to expedite the method for allowing wind and photo voltaic tasks by as a lot as 12 months.

What’s extra, Walz’s plan would require Minnesota utilities to generate 100% of their electrical energy from carbon-free sources by 2040 — a objective that’s “much more bold than related measures in historically progressive states,” in accordance with Cassidy DiPaola, communications director for the nonprofit Fossil Free Media.

“Governor Walz’s evolution right into a local weather champion, sparked by witnessing the impacts of utmost climate on his rural constituents, displays a rising understanding of local weather change as a direct and devastating menace to communities throughout America,” DiPaola mentioned in an announcement.

Walz additionally signed an government order in 2019 that established a local weather change sub-cabinet within the state, which is tasked with figuring out new methods to fulfill greenhouse fuel discount objectives and “put together Minnesota for the impacts of local weather change that can not be prevented or mitigated.”

Because the passage of President Biden’s landmark local weather invoice, the Inflation Discount Act, in 2022, Minnesota has seen $1.15 billion in clear vitality investments and almost 2,000 new clear vitality jobs, in accordance with an evaluation from the group Local weather Energy.

However vitality is only one element of Walz’s environmental report. The governor has additionally advocated closely for transportation tasks that may broaden the usage of electrical autos, tighten air pollution requirements for vehicles and vehicles, and improve public transit and e-bike choices.

Final yr, Minnesota turned the primary state within the Midwest to undertake California’s strict tailpipe emission requirements — regardless of vital opposition from state Republicans and the Minnesota Auto Sellers Assn., who bemoaned in a courtroom petition that “Minnesota shouldn’t be California.”

The Clear Automobiles Minnesota rule went into impact this yr after a prolonged authorized battle, and requires automotive producers to make and ship passenger autos that produce much less air pollution, and to ship extra zero-emission autos to the state for shoppers to buy.

The rule doesn’t go as far as to ban the sale of fuel vehicles, which California will do starting in 2035. Nonetheless, Walz has outlined different plans to speed up Minnesota’s transition to electrical autos, along with his local weather framework calling for elevated EV charging infrastructure, diminished EV prices and extra accessible EV choices. The plan seeks to have at the very least 20% EVs on Minnesota roads by 2030.

Younger mentioned it is sensible that Walz would look to Harris’ dwelling state for inspiration, and that doing so speaks to his power as a public servant who makes selections based mostly on what’s going to serve folks finest.

“I don’t suppose he cares about the place the thought comes from if it’s a good suggestion,” Younger mentioned. “If California has some nice environmental concepts, why restrict them to California?”

Walz this yr utilized for $39 million in federal funds from the U.S. Environmental Safety Company to assist join Midwestern states by an electrical truck charging community for heavy-duty autos. His transportation funding legislation, handed in 2023, can be anticipated to generate $440 million per yr geared towards enhancing public transit and accelerating the build-out of an electrical bus system.

However Minnesota — a Nice Lakes state that’s dwelling to 1000’s of waterways — has additionally prioritized clear water and air protections beneath Walz’s watch.

The governor final yr signed a $2 billion setting and local weather invoice that features the strictest laws on PFAs, or “without end chemical compounds” within the nation. The invoice consists of environmental justice initiatives, reminiscent of necessities that the Minnesota Air pollution Management Company contemplate previous air pollution when issuing new or renewed air permits.

Moreover, Walz’s 2024 finances requires greater than $215 million in water and transportation infrastructure investments for packages reminiscent of lead pipe replacements, nitrate monitoring and eradicating PFAs from consuming water.

However his local weather report shouldn’t be with out its stains.

A report printed this month by the group Heated centered on a crude oil pipeline undertaking that was authorised early in Walz’s time period as governor. The pipeline runs by protected Indigenous lands in addition to lakes, rivers and different waterways within the state, and Indigenous leaders instructed Heated that they noticed the undertaking’s development as a betrayal of previous guarantees.

Nonetheless, others stay optimistic about Walz’s means to push the presidential ticket ahead on the subject of local weather efforts.

“As Governor, Tim Walz has made enormous strides to deal with the local weather disaster,” learn an announcement from Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director with the Dawn Motion. “He has completed this by pitching local weather motion as a option to make folks’s on a regular basis lives higher, create good-paying inexperienced jobs, and put money into making communities stronger.”

Certainly, Walz’s means to speak successfully about international warming has been a power on the marketing campaign path. Throughout a July “White Dudes for Harris” fundraising name seen by greater than 200,000 folks, he criticized the Republican ticket for “not addressing local weather change that’s going to influence communities which can be much less lucky than anybody else.”

“We now have communities which can be going to pay the value as a result of we don’t tackle it,” Walz instructed the viewers.

The remarks stand in stark distinction to not solely these of Donald Trump — who put in local weather change deniers in his administration and tried to roll again greater than 100 environmental laws throughout his presidency — but in addition his running-mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who has referred to as electrical autos “a rip-off” and mentioned he doesn’t consider there’s a local weather disaster.

“Voters could have a transparent alternative between a Harris-Walz ticket, who will combat for our clear vitality future that lowers dangerous air pollution and creates safer communities, or a Trump-Vance administration whose pro-polluter, excessive MAGA agenda will give Huge Oil a free move to profiteer and pollute,” learn an announcement from Lori Lodes, government director of Local weather Energy.

Walz additionally held environmental stances throughout his time in Congress, the place he served within the Home of Representatives from 2007 to 2019 earlier than changing into governor of Minnesota.

In 2017, he condemned Trump’s resolution to withdraw from the Paris local weather settlement as a transfer that “weakens U.S. nationwide safety, meals safety, ethical/international management — and lets down our children.” (President Biden reentered the settlement on his first day in workplace).

Amongst Walz’s votes on the time had been opposition to laws to take away protections for public lands; opposition to a invoice to broaden offshore oil drilling; and opposition to a invoice to ban the federal authorities from setting baseline protections from fracking.

Walz additionally didn’t mince phrases when Trump rolled again a signature Obama-era local weather coverage often known as the Clear Energy Plan in 2017 — issuing an announcement denouncing the order as denying “the very existence of local weather change.”

“The science on local weather change is settled,” Walz mentioned.