Drive Electric Minnesota News Releases

This afternoon, Representative John Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, officially introduced a major transportation reauthorization bill. The overall plan for the bill includes proposals to open the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and to open landscapes in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to oil shale extraction. At the same time, it cuts all funding for biking and walking safety and cripples environmental review for transportation projects. On top of this, Speaker of the House John Boehner has said that he would attach approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to this bill if it were not otherwise immediately approved.

A comprehensive strategy to get off oil can reduce oil dependence in Minnesota by 1.13 billion gallons. In Minnesota alone, these savings would equal two and half times the amount that could be created by expanding dangerous deepwater drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific, according to a new report released today by Environment Minnesota.
 

Environment Minnesota held a press conference at WeatherNation to release a new report documenting how global warming could lead to extreme weather events becoming even more common in the future. The report also highlights recent extreme weather events that have impacted Minnesota, our nation, and the globe.

In 2008, people in Minnesota saved 39 million gallons of gasoline by riding transit in record numbers – the amount consumed by about 67,000 cars in Minnesota.  Transportation is responsible for more than two-thirds of our dependence on oil, and about one-third of our carbon dioxide pollution. Standing with other transit advocates in front of the Light Rail station at City Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, Environment Minnesota outlined the findings in their new report “Getting On Track: Record Transit Ridership Increases Energy Independence.”