Embedded Files
Letters to the Editor Examples
Letters to the Editor Examples
Push for clean energy Permitting reform’
Michael Overend
Duluth News Tribune, 1/1/2026
Minnesota Power’s smart plans for increasing high-voltage transmission connecting Grand Rapids and Hermantown, as the News Tribune reported Dec. 12 , is good news for northern Minnesotans.
This project will reduce energy transmission congestion and is another step in transforming our regional grid to accommodate more renewable energy and increase northern Minnesota’s energy resilience. It helps with beneficial electrification, the process of eliminating fossil fuels and using clean, cheap renewable energy to power our lives and lower costs with heat pumps, electric vehicles, and induction stoves. Beneficial electrification slows growing home-insurance costs caused by severe weather, dramatically reduces heart and lung disease from air pollution, and can lower U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 70%, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute .
A massive buildout of new renewable-energy resources and transmission infrastructure is required, offering major construction-job opportunities, to generate and carry this clean energy to the communities needing it.
The Citizens’ Climate Lobby supports congressional clean-energy permitting reform to reduce costly delays in building our important grid infrastructure without jeopardizing environmental safety or stifling citizen input from affected communities.
We are rapidly approaching dangerous global-warming tipping points from burning fossil fuels. To eliminate fossil fuels as our primary source of energy and minimize our greenhouse-gas emissions, we need to accelerate beneficial electrification, which represent s an important climate-solution “moon shot” goal for America.
Congress is currently debating comprehensive clean-energy permitting reform to expedite beneficial electrification, and we need bipartisan support for a law that would provide a strong climate solution.
If you’re concerned about climate change, please help make this solution happen. Take one minute to help our clean-energy future by asking your members of Congress for comprehensive clean-energy permitting reform.
Michael Overend, Cohasset
Will our grandchildren bless us or curse us?
Robert Tereba
Winona Post, 12/31/2025
I recently came across the following quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?” It’s a great question that offers helpful insights on a wide range of topics; take, for instance, the issue of carbon pollution.
Carbon pollution caused by burning oil and coal to produce energy drives many adverse consequences, including more frequent and intense storms, floods, droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels, melting ice caps, and unnecessary illness and death caused by unhealthy air or extreme heat and humidity. And this is only a partial list.
What we do or fail to do on this issue greatly impacts others, including our children and grandchildren. When we do nothing, we don’t serve well our little ones who depend on us to do what’s right regarding the Earth, which they will inherit.
Science tells us that carbon pollution is real, serious, and human caused, and, critically, it can be made better if we act. So, let’s act.
Let’s make the polluters pay a fine for their pollution and pay those dollars as regular monthly income to U.S. households. This straightforward approach will drive research, investment, new businesses and jobs, and, most importantly, reduce the carbon pollution that hurts us all and degrades the Earth.
Visit citizensclimatelobby.org to learn more about this approach. Then join us in making it public policy. Your children and grandchildren will bless you for it.
Reader's View: US must ‘invest in our independence’
Brett Cease
Duluth News Tribune, 7/12/2025
Independence Day provided Americans the chance to reflect on the sacrifice of those who came before us to enshrine the freedoms and liberties we hold so dear.
This year, President Donald Trump and the governing GOP majority in Congress chose to honor the holiday by passing what is projected to be one of the largest legislative bills in U.S. history to increase the national debt — by nearly $3 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
As a proud father concerned about my children’s futures, this didn’t feel like independence to me. It felt like we’re yoking the next generation of Americans to investments we should be making today.
The broad majority of the costs in the bill are from enormous tax breaks going predominantly to wealthy Americans. To help offset these unsustainable costs, the GOP-led Congress chose to double down and eliminate some of the most promising clean-energy tax credits that have helped our country transition to becoming more energy independent.
Especially for states like Minnesota, which has no fossil-fuel resources of its own, this may mean an ongoing dependence on imports. In 2024 alone, our state’s economy lost more than $22 billion per year in imported fossil-fuel costs, equivalent to about 1.5 times the funding for our entire K-12 education system.
Minnesota supports clean energy, net metering, virtual power plants, and storage and grid resources, all of which allow Minnesotans to achieve more energy independence by helping families and local businesses in our state save money and take control from where our energy comes. The money we save on fossil-fuel imports and electricity bills could then be invested in strengthening our local communities and economies.
Moving forward, I hope we work together to support policies that actually invest in our independence.
Brett Cease
Duluth
Bloodsuckers on my mind, and not just in advance of Halloween
Mark Cannon
Minnpost 10/27/2023
It’s the season for frightening ghouls so let me tell you about a couple little bloodsuckers that scare me.
As the climate warms, the home range for the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus is moving north, and with them we can expect to see more of the untreatable viral diseases they transmit. Dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and zika cause untold human suffering throughout the tropical world, and the societal costs in lost revenue and health care are staggering.
Indeed, these and other “tropical” diseases are largely responsible for the dire financial situation in many developing countries.
How did we get to a point in snowy Minnesota where we have to think about tropical diseases? Climate change, that’s how.
Even slightly warmer winters and an earlier spring foster increases in mosquito numbers, expand their geographic range and accelerate the development of infectious organisms within the host mosquitoes.
Furthermore, modern transportation means people and foodstuffs can travel hundreds of miles in a day. So it is only a matter of time before virus meets host insect, who in turn feeds on unsuspecting Minnesotan human lounging lakeside.
Fevers, malaise, headaches and joint pain ensue; local physicians, at first mystified, soon realize they need to bone up on their tropical medicine. We need to prevent this scenario becoming a reality.
Aside from warmer average temperatures, climate change means an increase in severe weather events. Flooded sewage systems and overcrowding due to home and infrastructure damage lead to emergence of food- and water-borne illnesses.
Salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, yersinia, leptospirosis and typhus are not words you ever want to see on your test results. These pathogens cause prolonged illness and even death in vulnerable populations like the very young, old, or immunocompromised. Virtually any major flooding event you care to review will have been associated with upticks in these food- and water-borne illnesses.
Infection is by no means the only health risk associated with climate change. To protect our health, our peace and our economy we need to work furiously hard now with the rest of the world on new technologies, strategies and attitudes to minimize our dependence on carbon-based fuels.
The good news is that more politicians, policymakers and leaders of industry are signing on to make a difference. You can, too: by speaking to your representatives, by joining your local chapter of climate activists and by supporting legislation designed to let renewable energy fulfill its potential as a job-creating economic driver and climate change solution.
Mark Cannon, Eden Prairie. Mark Cannon is a local practicing infectious diseases physician and former laboratory virologist.
Taking Action on Climate
Howard White
Northfield News, 1/18/2024
I am a weather geek and have been tracking Twin Cities temperatures since January 2015.
Weather and climate are not the same, but eventually, consistent weather patterns over years demonstrate that our climate is changing. Our average daily temperature, as measured over thelast nine years, is now 1.5 degrees above normal. That is not good.
We can have an impact on our climate and individual actions help. Over 16 years, and it took that long a time to make it affordable for us, my wife and I have replaced our windows, added solar panels, re-did the insulation in our house’s walls and attic, bought an EV, and mostrecently, installed an air source heat pump to replace our AC and lessen the use of our gas-powered furnace. We reduced our carbon footprint. Now, there are tax credits and rebates making all these changes more affordable.
Greater impact can happen by the action of larger players: the corporations, legislatures and Congress, and the agencies of governments around the world. In our country we need clean energy permitting reform, especially as it relates to the transmission of wind and solar generated electricity from where it is produced to where it is needed. In our state we need to speed up the process of permitting transmission lines.
Let’s all do our part and push our elected leaders to do theirs.
Howard White, Northfield, MN
Support Solutions to Climate Warming
Support Solutions to Climate Warming
Claudia Egelhoff
Claudia Egelhoff
Monticello Times, 12/13/2021
Monticello Times, 12/13/2021
In a few weeks, birding enthusiasts will descend on Wright County for the annual Christmas Bird Count. Wright County is known for its great variety, from trumpeting swans to yammering nuthatches. But it may not stay this way.
Scientists from the National Audubon Society used 140 million observations from birders to describe where 604 North American bird species live today—an area known as their “range.” They used the latest climate models to project how each species’ range will shift as climate change and other human impacts advance across the continent.
The results are clear: birds will be forced to relocate to find homes and food. And they may not survive. Two-thirds of North American birds are at risk of extinction from global temperature rise.
If we take action now, we can improve the chances for hundreds of bird species. By stabilizing carbon emissions and holding warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, 76% of vulnerable species will be better off, and nearly 150 species would no longer be vulnerable to extinction from climate change.
Fortunately, Congress is considering a policy that can improve the future for birds…and for people. This policy puts a steadily increasing fee on polluting fossil fuels and rebates these sizable revenues directly to households, like a continuing stimulus check.
This market-based solution originated in the Reagan Administration and creates an incentive to further develop cheaper energy technologies. Economic studies consistently point to this policy as one that can hold warming to the 1.5°C increase recommended by climate scientists.
You can do your part. Tell our Senators to support a common sense solution to climate warming. This webpage makes it easy: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/senate/
Your fellow citizens and the birds will thank you!
Protect Loved Ones From Climate Change
Protect Loved Ones From Climate Change
Michael Overend
Michael Overend
Morrison County Record, 11/19/2021
Morrison County Record, 11/19/2021
Regardless of our age, sex, race, color, creed, we are all human and we need someone to love and someone to love us. The love of important people in our lives provides meaning for our existence and our actions. We all agree on the importance of the safety, health and well-being of those we love. We share these feelings no matter what city, state or nation we call home. Take a moment and think about how you safeguard your loved ones, right now…
Is global warming important to you? Global warming threatens all of us, including those we love; one-third of Americans were directly impacted in 2020. Our children, and future generations, are in increased danger as it worsens. We all need clean air, water, adequate food and shelter. Burning fossil fuels rapidly worsens global warming. Just 1.1 degree of global warming has already caused deadly severe weather-related heat waves, droughts, floods, fires, crop and soil damage with increased disease, poverty, climate-refugees and wars. Please act to protect those you love.
Join Citizens’ Climate Lobby (cclusa.org). Ask Senators Smith and Klobuchar and Representative Stauber to protect our children’s future by Pricing Carbon with a Dividend, the best global warming solution.
Thoughts on Climate Change
Pat Fettes
Mille Lacs Messenger, 11/10/2021
We are hearing more about climate change these days as policymakers grapple with how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe you heard that global warming is increasing severe weather events, and that we need to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050 to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
More people are seeing climate change as a personal threat. It hit home for me this summer when the smoke from Canadian wildfires that blanketed Minnesota triggered my asthma, and when a dear friend lost her brother as Hurricane Ida ravaged New Orleans.
Has it hit home for you? Are you frustrated by declining walleye in Lake Mille Lacs? Know a farmer struggling due to the Minnesota drought? Have sticker shock when you opened your homeowner’s insurance bill? Climate change has a hand in all these problems.
Climate change is hitting home and we need to tell Representative Stauber and Senators Klobuchar and Smith to support policies NOW that will reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. An option being considered in the reconciliation bill is a carbon fee for fossil fuel companies combined with household dividends, a fiscally responsible approach that will reduce carbon emissions and stimulate the development of clean energy.
You can find more information about carbon fees and click a link to easily contact your members of congress at cclusa.org. They DO listen--and they need to know that climate change is on our doorstep and we can’t afford to pretend no one is home.
Climate Change is Real, and We Need to Act
Climate Change is Real, and We Need to Act
Nina Rutledge
Nina Rutledge
Litchfield Independent Review, 1/28/2022
Litchfield Independent Review, 1/28/2022
What on Earth would it take for each of us to accept the reality of climate change?
We have been sent hurricanes, devastating fires, floods, famines, drought, tornadoes, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, wildlife facing extinction. Etc.! Etc.! Etc.! The list goes on. Do we really believe this is all going to go away?
This is not a political issue. Climate change doesn't care if one is a Republican, Democrat, Independent or whatever; it affects everyone and everything in this world. All life is threatened!
It's not too late. If we all embrace this knowledge and take responsibility now for this crisis and do what we must to save our beautiful Earth for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Letter
Letter
Paul Knutson
Paul Knutson
Steele County Times, 1/13/2022
Warmer temperatures, not counting this month’s arctic blasts, are the norm now. We can’t escape it.
Warmer temperatures, not counting this month’s arctic blasts, are the norm now. We can’t escape it.
I’m a retired Air Force meteorologist who farms. During my 20 years in the Air Force no one thought climate change would affect us during our lifetime. When I retired in 1992, there were no plans to change how the military operates or how they plan for military missions around the world but now the military aggressively addresses how they have to adjust to the rising waters and temperatures as well as what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint.
I’m a retired Air Force meteorologist who farms. During my 20 years in the Air Force no one thought climate change would affect us during our lifetime. When I retired in 1992, there were no plans to change how the military operates or how they plan for military missions around the world but now the military aggressively addresses how they have to adjust to the rising waters and temperatures as well as what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint.
I’m doing the same thing with my farming operation. Gone are the days when tillage was the best practice. It allows too much soil and wind erosion and the loss of expensive fertilizer. Our lakes and rivers don’t need fertilizer and valuable soil mixing into their clean water. Now I do no-till and strip-till along with cover crops. It’s not been an easy transition, but I have to make it work. The farmers who lead in these changes have been doing it for decades; they find it reduces costs while yields don’t suffer.
I’m doing the same thing with my farming operation. Gone are the days when tillage was the best practice. It allows too much soil and wind erosion and the loss of expensive fertilizer. Our lakes and rivers don’t need fertilizer and valuable soil mixing into their clean water. Now I do no-till and strip-till along with cover crops. It’s not been an easy transition, but I have to make it work. The farmers who lead in these changes have been doing it for decades; they find it reduces costs while yields don’t suffer.
Hopefully help is on the way that quickly addresses the hotter world. There is a bill in Congress that would put a fee on carbon that comes out of the ground in order to reduce consumption. All the money collected would come back to consumers to spend on energy resources and products that use less or no carbon. This is an issue that requires all of us to contact our political leaders to strongly encourage them to enact a carbon fee and dividend law now.
Hopefully help is on the way that quickly addresses the hotter world. There is a bill in Congress that would put a fee on carbon that comes out of the ground in order to reduce consumption. All the money collected would come back to consumers to spend on energy resources and products that use less or no carbon. This is an issue that requires all of us to contact our political leaders to strongly encourage them to enact a carbon fee and dividend law now.
We all have a different timeline when we’ve had the “Aha” moment such that we can no longer accept the detrimental climate impacts on our earth and society as the status quo. Please reflect and act! One no cost but effective way to get involved, for the sake of your kids and grand-kids, is to join Citizens Climate Lobby at www.citizensclimatelobby.org .
We all have a different timeline when we’ve had the “Aha” moment such that we can no longer accept the detrimental climate impacts on our earth and society as the status quo. Please reflect and act! One no cost but effective way to get involved, for the sake of your kids and grand-kids, is to join Citizens Climate Lobby at www.citizensclimatelobby.org .
The Cost of Inaction on Climate
The Cost of Inaction on Climate
Peter Berglund
Peter Berglund
Star Tribune, 11/19/2021
Star Tribune, 11/19/2021
We now know that the infrastructure bill has passed Congress. So, what is the fate of the Build Back Better Act (BBB, the social spending bill), if it stands on its own?
Will Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin or Congress as a whole be willing to spend more money with the BBB bill? With COP26 underway in Glasgow discussing how to slow the climate crisis, and all the recent news telling us that we have to act immediately, how about we get a separate bill in Congress to address climate change instead of including climate action in the BBB bill? The climate crisis is such a huge problem that it should be addressed in its own bill. There's talk that Manchin has ties to the coal industry, so, can we go around Manchin? Maybe we could get the other Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate, and a couple (enough) Republicans, to support meaningful climate action if there was a stand-alone climate bill.
There are many options for climate action. The Citizens' Climate Lobby is advocating for a price on carbon, with all the revenue returned as a monthly dividend to the public. Economists say that we should put a price on "what we don't want" to drive action and to account for the societal costs of fossil fuels. Inaction on reversing the climate crisis will cost more in lives and dollars than taking action now. Call your members of the U.S. House and Sens. Klobuchar and Smith.
Peter Berglund, St. Paul
Op-Ed Examples
Op-Ed Examples
Citizens Addressing our Changing Climate: A one-year check in on our first EV.
Op-ed by Polly Merhar
Bemidji Pioneer, 1/14/2026.
In November 2024, I wrote about our evolution toward EV ownership and promised to give you an update once we had enough experience to share.
I noted previously that EV ownership isn’t a significant change. Just plug in the fuel versus pump it in. One-pedal driving and much less active braking were new but an easy adjustment.
At the beginning, we plugged it into a 110 outlet and it would have taken days to charge — a humorously long time to charge a full-sized pickup. We then discovered a 240-volt outlet in an older outbuilding, voila, full charge capabilities at home.
We were also lucky that my husband’s workplace has EV chargers. His EV-driving boss was excited to welcome a new EV owner, showed him how to use the app, and treated him to his first charge.
We worked with a local electrician and Beltrami Electric to figure out what to install for EV charging. We decided to go with the option to charge using off-peak electricity at a reduced rate. Off-peak helps electric companies balance load, and users benefit from lower rates.
Once that was installed, charging became easy, and we only had to remember to plug and unplug the vehicle. It took almost no time to stop looking at the price of gasoline!
With our home EV charger, we added the feature to plug our truck into our home and use it as a generator. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the plug adapter in time for the June storm when the power was out. But we are ready now.
We were also hand-pumping our basement sump tank when suddenly we remembered we had an electric truck. Woot! We backed that up to the house and plugged in both the sump pump and alternated plugging in the refrigerator and freezers. We felt quite brilliant and lucky. The draw on the truck battery was minimal. Much less than driving the truck.
Range anxiety was a real thing for us. Learning what causes reductions to the advertised range per charge has been interesting. For our truck, we find that extreme heat or cold are the primary factors affecting range. In those extremes, we lose 30% of the regular range.
Our truck is built with a 7500# towing package. Towing a heavy trailer will also reduce range, but a light boat or a small camper won’t affect range much. This is similar to a gasoline vehicle. Learning how to manage your battery is an important part of EV ownership.
We only took the truck on one trip, and it was relatively easy to find public charging stations. We use this truck like, well, a truck. Hauling logs, trash, building supplies — you name it. We have put on 18,300 miles in 14 months and have been plugged in at home using off-peak service through Beltrami Electric since February.
Bob Gregg from Beltrami Electric prepared some good cost-comparison figures for our truck usage. We charge 98% at home during off-peak hours, which averages $.04 per mile. If we were using only public charging, it would be $ 0.18 per mile. Compared to an F-150 gasoline truck, the average fuel cost is $0.14 per mile.
We use our gas car for trips. The plan to install EV chargers along main transportation routes in the U.S. has been disrupted, as much of the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate investments were sadly eliminated. It makes a lot of sense when you have more than one vehicle in a rural area to have an EV and a gas-powered car to take advantage of the benefits of both technologies.
Our son lives in western Montana, where he has met ranchers who mount a gas generator in their Ford Lightnings for backup on long hauls — a real-world hybrid.
Regular maintenance is where the Ford Lightning EV is saving us a bunch of money. So far, we have paid $45 for tire rotations. No oil changes! Just rotate the tires regularly. We used to have a little efficient car for commuting, and a big pickup hanging out, waiting to do trucky stuff.
Now we only have two vehicles because we can use the EV pickup for commuting and trucky stuff. We wholeheartedly recommend an EV as a second vehicle for those living in rural areas.
Polly Merhar is a member of the Citizens' Climate Lobby organization. For more information, visit CitizensClimateLobby.org.
Fix Our Forests Act: is it good enough?
Op-Ed by Katya Gordon
Lake County Press, 12/27/2025
Wildfires are growing in intensity and frequency due to both climate change (hotter, drier climates) and historical management practices, notably the lack of controlled burning and the practice of suppressing an extinguishing all fires for decades. Wildfire consequences include carbon release into the atmosphere exacerbating climate change, loss of wildlife and biodiversity, air quality problems, lost lives, homes, and possessions, trauma, and the costs to repair (which are contributing to an insurance crisis). These facts are agreed upon, but the proper, or even “good enough” fix to these problems is not.
The “Fix Our Forests” Act, which passed the House with 215 Republican and 64 Democratic votes, is now working its way through the Senate. The consequences of this bill’s passage (or not) will affect the northland, which has vast forest acreage. The “Fix Our Forest” bill, HR 471 and S1462, aims to restore forest health, increase resiliency to wildfire, and build defenses in risky areas. There are many parts to it that include simplifying and expediting critical projects, reducing litigation delay times, adding community input early and often, providing emergency tools for a faster and bigger response from firefighters, creating an interagency Fire Center, and initiating a national strategy for tree nurseries.
This bill is supported by numerous entities including The Nature Conservancy, the National Congress of American Indians, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Audubon Society, and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. However, as th house voting shows, Democrats have their doubts. Those who voted against cited concerns around the expedited and expanded “wildfire resilience projects” that was requested by California and would give the Forest Service greater latitude and speed in addressing forest health in these areas. But according to the Citizens’ Climate Lobby website, this bill brings no change to NEPA (National Environmental Protection Agency) or the EPA processes, and research supports these measures as wildfire-reducing. Democrats who object to the bill do not object to its intent, but hope to create more guardrails to ensure that the bill isn’t a hidden “get out of jail free” card for the timber industry. Advocates insist that the Forest Service and other entities desperately need more latitude if they are expected to successfully reduce exponentially increasing fire and risk. Forests in 2026 are in danger and need a new type of management, starting now.
While no one is claiming the bill is perfect, The Nature Conservancy’s website, which promotes “changing our relationship with fire to create healthy natural places and build resilient communities in the face of a warmer, drier climate,” supports this bill as a net gain. To learn a pro-take on the bill, go to the Citizens Climate Lobby website and search for Fix our Forests. While there is hesitation on the Democratic side, it appears to be a bill that both parties can live with. If it passes it will be an example of bipartisanship that responds to a current problem and advances practical solutions. Contact your representatives with your views.
Citizens Addressing our Changing Climate: Bemidji derecho increases worries about local wildfires
Op-Ed by Polly Merhar
Park Rapids Enterprise, 10/15/2025
Like many of you, I enjoy living in northern Minnesota because I love to be surrounded by forests and nature. So, in June, I was heartbroken when our area experienced a devastating derecho, which knocked down a reported 9 million trees.
Last spring, forests just north of my hometown of Two Harbors were hit with several wildfires that changed their landscape and impacted their lives at work and leisure. I have heard from many people that one of the factors driving them to clean out their downed woodlots and wild areas in our area is their fear of wildfires in the next few years.
This year, we also experienced the burning of forests ravaged by wildfires in Canada because the smoke was blown south, to our area. Living with smoke made it clear that it is a danger to our health and takes away our ability and desire to recreate outside. There was a month this summer when it felt like I was held inside either by rain or smoke, sometimes it was raining smoke.
In the U.S., the annual area burned by wildfires has more than doubled over the past three decades. That means lost habitat for animals, and threats to human lives and health. Wildfires create harmful smoke pollution and increase the cost of insuring and rebuilding our communities.
Healthy forests are also a key part of the climate puzzle, with American forests currently removing 12% of our annual climate pollution from the atmosphere, with the potential to do even more.
It’s clear that we need to take action to reduce these threats and nurture our forests so they can continue to do their essential work. That’s why it is critical that Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, vote to support the Fix Our Forests Act (HR.471)(S.1452).
This bipartisan legislation directly addresses the root causes of America’s escalating wildfires, allowing for more timely forest management projects.
It empowers forest managers to act quickly on common-sense solutions, such as thinning dense undergrowth, removing dead trees, utilizing modern fire detection systems, and strengthening our wildland firefighting workforce.
At the same time, it preserves strong environmental protections, ensures tribal consultation, and builds in early community input — balancing urgency with accountability.
A version of the bill already passed the House earlier this year with overwhelming support: 279 representatives — including Republicans and Democrats from across the country — voted yes. That’s a rare show of unity in today’s Congress, and it reflects the shared understanding that wildfire resilience is not a partisan issue.
We’re increasingly seeing how wildfire smoke does not respect state boundaries. For the third summer in a row, smoke has drifted across the country, triggering dangerous air pollution alerts in states far from the flames. What burns in Canada travels elsewhere, and vice versa. This is not just a Minnesota crisis — it’s a national one.
Senators on the Agriculture Committee, including Senator Smith, now have the chance to move this legislation forward. By passing the Fix Our Forests Act, they can protect lives, livelihoods and lands by reducing wildfire risk, strengthening local economies, and ensuring science-based forest restoration.
We cannot afford a delay. Every season brings more fire-prone days, more destruction and an increased risk to more families.
As fall approaches, I hope Senators Klobuchar and Smith will have the time to take a peaceful stroll in one of Minnesota’s beautiful forests.
Walking under the stunning autumn canopy, experiencing the slanting fall light through the golden leaves, and hearing the gentle crunch of leaves underfoot will no doubt be a welcome reprieve from the fast-paced world of Congress for an hour or two.
I also hope it will inspire her to support the Fix Our Forests Act and preserve these sacred places that Minnesotans love.
Polly Merhar is a member of the Citizens' Climate Lobby organization. For more information, visit CitizensClimateLobby.org.
Nuclear energy--the best imperfect solution yet.
Op-Ed by Katya Gordon
Lake County Press, 3/14/2025
You have been reading about nuclear energy in this paper. This issue has changed a great deal over the years without most of us, myself included, realizing it. It is hotly debated in environmental and climate-minded groups, including the Citizens Climate Lobby, of which I am a member. Proponents of nuclear point to its clear advantage as a clean energy, its value as a base load energy source (keeping the lights on when renewables are inactive) and its highly regulated and safe waste practices. Opponents reject nuclear based on the high cost and slow pace of building nuclear plants, the fear around toxic waste, and the potential (and past) exploitation of communities near nuclear plants. While proponents speak of the high electric demand that is forecasted due to electrification and data centers, those against argue that we must reduce our consumption and recycle its products to the degree that distasteful and dangerous developments like nuclear plants and potentially toxic mines are unnecessary.
I could not tell you where I would have stood on this ten years ago, but I can tell you what I think today. Having watched us humans grapple with a growing climate crisis and all the financial, institutional, and natural stresses it lays on us, I can say with some level of confidence that disruption will continue to be the norm even as millions of people and governments do their best to mitigate the effects of climate which include political unrest, famine, and an unprecedented number of people on the move. To put it bluntly, the human race is not poised to evolve smoothly and quickly into a world where advanced a small fraction of today's emissions that we can run ourselves solely on sun, waves, and water.
This does not mean some demands do not warrant a critical eye. I am dismayed that Al, that didn't exist a few years ago, is considered so critical that we must all bow to the inevitable development of data centers immediately, however they tax our current electric power sources. There are alternative responses to the one that assumes we must provide free, unlimited, on-demand AI services for everyone in the modern world--but to get at other answers, we must have a functioning political system. It may take skyrocketing utility bills at communities near data centers to draw enough attention to this problem to regulate it.
Meantime, there are other critical modern services that are, indeed, drawing up the demand on electricity, most notably electric cars and heat pumps. And in developing countries where coal is the path of least resistance, however lethal it is, people are demanding the electricity that we have enjoyed for over a hundred years, and I for one don't blame them. Demand for electricity is, by any measure, growing. Because of this, nuclear doubters need to answer to the assertions below, which I find compelling.
1. Nuclear is cleanly produced by any standard. Its waste products can be and are safely stored as they cool. Better yet, they are becoming recyclable. What other form of energy can claim that? "There is no free lunch," says physicist and Citizens Climate Lobby volunteer Barbara Jones in Ely. Blades from wind turbines need to be recycled. Solar energy takes up vast tracts of land and provides only when the sun shines. Natural gas and oil have major problems with both production and waste that is dirty and dangerous.
2. Though nuclear energy is expensive, it provides baseload power (when all other forms fail). Without nuclear, studies show that we cannot get off our dependence on fossil fuels quickly if ever. Further, the cost of nuclear will drop as research and development and expertise re-start after a few decades out of favor.
This is all immediately relevant because the MN legislature is considering a bipartisan bill to lift the 30-year ban on nuclear energy. I have been on a steep learning curve with nuclear and have come to wholly support lifting the moratorium. If nothing else, the imperative to transform our energy system necessitates comparing all types of energies, and nuclear is undeniably a contender. Lifting the moratorium allows us to consider it on its merits.
Yes, we must do better with local communities. The Prairie Island Indian Community, which lives adjacent to a nuclear plant and which stores its waste (for a price), has spoken compellingly about the role it was not allowed to play in the creation of the plant, which opened 50 years ago. I have watched Senate hearings with the MN legislature, including tribal representatives. The Senate’s bill, we are assured, will imbed local community decision-making into law. We must be involved and make sure it does.
The climate does not give us time to insist on perfection, as Minnesota already knows with its goal of using only carbon-free sources of energy by 2040. Adding nuclear to the mix provides the clearest path to reaching this goal that I have seen yet. It is heartening to see numbers that actually add up! It gives me a real and realistic hope that we can not only avoid the worst future climate scenarios, but that everyone— not just Republicans, who largely favor nuclear--must bend in order to do so.
Katya Gordon is a Two Harbors resident and reporter for the Lake County Press She can be reached at kgordon@cherryroad.com.
Working for bipartisan solutions.
Op-ed by Linda Kingery
Bemidji Pioneer, 11/19/2025.
During this week, volunteers from Citizens’ Climate Lobby are meeting with their local Minnesota Representatives and Senators, asking them to support bipartisan legislative solutions.
Even though there are many differences between the political parties, there remains room for bipartisan solutions. Here are some examples.
CCL is asking Congress to pass bipartisan permitting reform legislation in order to lower energy costs and strengthen the electrical grid. Comprehensive reforms will streamline permitting processes, ensure early and transparent community input, provide greater certainty for the development of all energy projects and streamline interstate transmission permitting, among other important policy improvements.
Permitting reform means lower energy costs, more American jobs and greater energy security. The Problem Solvers Caucus in the House of Representatives put together a framework. A bipartisan working group from the National Governors Association outlined a similar approach.
You might be wondering how permitting reform is a climate solution. Clean energy projects need permits and depend on access to the grid. Thousands of clean energy projects are ready to be built. Modernizing permitting is essential to deliver clean energy on time, strengthen grid reliability, lower costs for families, and meet U.S. climate goals.
Another solution helps to bolster the health of forests, especially those with the greatest fire risk in the western U.S. The Fix Our Forests Act modernizes how we manage wildfire risk by empowering communities, protecting forests, and improving coordination among agencies — protecting lives, property and infrastructure while saving taxpayer dollars.
This legislation focuses on preventive measures in high-risk areas. It expands programs for community wildfire preparedness and tribal partnerships. It streamlines project review to act faster while maintaining environmental protections.
Bipartisanship involves compromise. CCL volunteers interact with their members of Congress in a spirit of appreciation and respect, recognizing that bipartisan solutions are hard work.
Linda Kingery is a member of the Citizens' Climate Lobby organization. For more information, visit CitizensClimateLobby.org.
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