This following Gov. Mark Dayton’s call for eliminating coal from the future of Minnesota’s energy production in a speech three weeks ago.

 

According to MPR, about 46% of electricity generated in the state last year came from burning coal. 

 

“Gov. Dayton's extreme energy agenda is wrong for Minnesota,” said Honour.  “His ultra-liberal solar and wind mandates would drive up energy costs for families, making it even harder to afford high energy bills.  Dayton's job-killing plan to eliminate coal from energy production will do one thing: hurt hardworking Minnesota families.”

 

"It concerns me that Gov. Dayton would want to shutter Sherco, a major coal plant in Becker.  Minnesota needs a balanced energy portfolio including natural gas, coal, and nuclear to keep energy reliable and bills manageable," said Sen. Dave Brown, who joined Honour Friday to speak on behalf of Sherco.

 

Honour is framing himself as the only successful businessman in a field of leading GOP rivals that, he is happy to point out, have more than 50 years of political experience among them. At each stop, he promises to bring a fearless and uncompromising business-minded approach to state government, whether it is to the state budget, unions or regulations.

 

“I fundamentally believe we are a country built on the back of the private sector, on capitalism, and that is a good thing,” Honour said. “We want people to have economic opportunity. It is not government creating more government jobs that drives this economy.”

 

Honour’s opponents in the Aug. 12 GOP primary are former Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers, former GOP House leader Marty Seifert and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who won the GOP endorsement.

 

Zellers, a Maple Grove legislator is making the most explicitly political pitch — that his tenure as House speaker during the 2011 state government shutdown, when he led Republicans as they clashed with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton over the size of state government, make him the party’s best choice to take on Dayton in November.

 

“Gov. Dayton is following President Obama’s playbook when it comes to his energy policy,” said Zellers. “Eliminating the production of coal for energy purposes will hamper Minnesota’s economy and cause job loss and skyrocketing energy costs.”

 

Seifert, who made a failed attempt at the governor’s seat in 2010, is playing up his small-town roots big, looking to turn his lack of polish to his advantage.

 

“I have the ding of, ‘That’s the guy with the Minnesota accent,’ ” he said. “Like it’s some sort of bad thing, you know? I think it’s a good thing.”

 

Seifert is calling on Dayton to rethink his public position in support of higher energy costs made this month when he declared his goal of eliminating coal production in Minnesota.

 

Johnson, who has been intimately involved in the Republican party’s recent struggles and recovery, knows the weight he carries as a loss in the August primary could severely diminish the power of the party endorsement. If he wins the primary but fails to woo moderate voters from supporting Dayton in November, Republicans will be shut out of the top office for years to come.

 

“If I blow this? If I screw this up? Yeah, that will be on my shoulders,” said Johnson, a former state legislator and former national committeeman for the party who is a Hennepin County commissioner.

 

Johnson supports increased production of traditional domestic energy sources and the use of alternative fuel technology as well as increasing funding for improvements to Minnesota's power generating and transmission facilities.