Bad for MN - MN350

Environmental impact:

Methane from fracking significantly increases greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Large quantities of methane are emitted during the extraction of fossil gas. This methane remains in the air for years.
Methane is 60 – 80 times worse than emitting simple CO2.
Fracking pollutes ground water resources and pipeline breaks have resulted in the contamination of ground water.

Economic impact:

The price of clean energy is dropping rapidly.
Households will save between $600 and $1200 a year on energy spending, amounting to cumulative economy-wide energy savings of up to $50 billion by 2050.
The proposed gas plant is likely to become a stranded asset in a few years when clean energy prices become significantly less than fossil gas.
A clean energy system could triple the number of jobs in the energy sector in Minnesota, creating an estimated 14,000 jobs in wind and 36,000 jobs in solar by 2050

Health impact:

Air pollution. Fossil gas extraction, transport, and combustion can release harmful pollutants into the air we breathe, both outdoors near gas extraction sites and electricity generation plants, and indoors in buildings where we use gas to power heating and cooking appliances
Black American mortality rates attributable to power plant PM2.5 pollution are 25% higher than the population average and 12% higher than the rates for Whites.
Fossil gas extraction sites are more likely to be permitted and constructed in neighborhoods with a high proportion of BIPOC and residents living in poverty.
Last year, Minnesota experienced three fossil gas pipeline explosions: one in Pequot Lakes that hospitalized a restaurant owner with severe burns, one in Paynesville that leveled a home, and one in St. Paul that destroyed a house and badly burned an elderly resident. Since 2005, fossil gas pipelines in Minnesota have led to: 77 incident reports, nine injuries, two deaths, and $59 million in damages.