Anti-Energy Angie
Aug 28, 2018Eagan, MN – Jason Lewis for Congress Campaign Manager Becky Alery released the following statement:
“Angie Craig’s refusal to support sound policies on energy and jobs is a double whammy for Minnesotans in the Second District.
“Today marks the two-month anniversary since the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously granted the certificate of need for the Enbridge Pipeline. It also predictably marks two months of silence from Angie Craig. Craig’s silence for someone who claims to support labor is quite a contrast with Congressman Lewis who has been a vocal supporter for the pipeline and the workers who depend on it. Moreover, as Lewis notes, pipelines are still the safest way to transport crude.
“But, of course, Enbridge is not the only place Craig’s radical views on energy have threatened jobs. Last week, the Trump Administration proposed a replacement for the massively expensive Obama-era Clean Power Plan and sensibly offered an alternative which more accurately reflects associated costs and benefits and grants states more flexibility. The Clean Power Plan rule was, in fact, so controversial that the Supreme Court put an unprecedented stay of the scheme in February of 2016 on behalf 27 states, 37 rural electric associations, and three labor unions.
“Remarkably, that didn’t stop Angie Craig from not only backing Obama’s executive branch mandate but calling the onerous regulation estimated to cost $33 billion by 2030 ‘a good start.’
“Whether it is her support for the job-stifling Clean Power Plan, or her silence on the Enbridge Pipeline, it is clear, more now than ever, that Craig plans to put environmentalists above blue-color workers – even when Minnesota families in the district she hopes to represent will be hurt in the process.
Background:
- Minnesota’s largest refinery, Pine Bend, located in Rosemount, MN depends on the Enbridge pipeline system which provides all of the oil for the refinery.
- Pine Bend refinery has a dedicated pipeline to Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, providing the majority of the jet fuel for the international airport.
- Replacing the Enbridge Pipeline means more than 8,000 jobs here in Minnesota. Not only will the project create thousands of jobs, but it will protect thousands more – especially those right here in Minnesota’s Second District.
- Additionally, this project will bring $19 million in additional tax revenue and more than $2 billion in private investment to the state. At Pine Bend, Flint Hill’s $600 million in investments is at risk without the additional crude oil from the updated Enbridge Pipeline.
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