In the last Biennium Governor Dayton and the DFL majority gave themselves the power to give state commissioners enormous pay raises. Each commissioner already earns a 6 digit salary! Those raises were announced yesterday even though they went into effect on January 5.

 

Here is a link to see how much each raise amounted to: http://www.scribd.com/doc/254865177/Commissioner-Raises

 

Did you get this kind of raise?  Once again, we see the disconnect between the metro-DFL and the taxpayers!

 

We have been holding many informational hearings on energy and the systems needed to provide it. As you know, the DFL and the extreme environmentalists want to force Minnesota to get rid of their affordable energy, i.e. coal and nuclear power. They want to push us to use as much solar and wind as possible.

 

In committee we learned that in order to meet a 30% renewable energy standard by 2020, Minnesota will be forced to build at least:

 

•900 new wind turbines;

 

•1200 new power transmission line systems;

 

•14,000 new acres of solar panels.

 

How do you feel about paying for all of this? Currently we are introducing legislation to bring some balance back to our energy policies and to save our affordable energy systems. We will not stop fighting to save our clean-affordable coal power plants and the thousands of people who work for them.

 

Good news! This year, Senator Brown and I worked to help Palmer Wireless obtain an important D.E.E.D. grant to expand broadband coverage to areas in Western Sherburne County. We were also able to help Century Link to obtain a grant to do the same in areas of Benton County.

 

As many of you know, broadband is essential to economic development and it also offers more choices to the residents who live in these communities.