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January 12, 2010

Now..carbon dioxide induced neighborhood feud




Think of how foolish this is. States suing each other over plant food reduction policies that penalize consumers. When people wake up to the fact that carbon dioxide is not pollution and realize what havock this insanity has played on all aspects of their lives....Gore best be hiding on one of those islands that won't be underwater.




FROM-Bismarck Tribune

N.D. likely to sue Minnesota over carbon tax

North Dakota’s attorney general said he expects the state to sue Minnesota over a plan there to tax carbon created by electrical generation.

After discussing the issue with the state Industrial Commission in a closed session this month, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said “It is very likely that we will be suing the state of Minnesota.”

At issue is a measure by Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission to add a fee of between $4 and $34 per ton of carbon dioxide to the cost of electrical generation starting in 2012. The majority of electricity in North Dakota is generated by coal-fired power plants, which emit a large amount of carbon relative to other fuels sources. North Dakota officials argue that the move would place an unfair tax on electricity from the state and discourage its use by Minnesota utilities.

Stenehjem said possible legal action would relate to constitutional protections against restrictions on commerce between states.

The North Dakota Legislature in 2007 allocated $500,000 for litigation on the carbon tax proposal, and the Industrial Commission has protested the plan more than once since then. Stenehjem said that he and other officials have met with the Minnesota governor and attorney general and North Dakota officials have exhausted other means of resolving the dispute. He said that a venue or a timeframe has not been chosen for litigation.

Besides their argument that Minnesota’s move is an illegal attempt to regulate utilities outside of that state, Stenehjem said the plan does not take into account technology here to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants by capturing carbon dioxide or converting coal to cleaner burner forms.

“What they’re failing to recognize is that we’re doing much more than Minnesota” in terms of clean coal research, Stenehjem said. “We don’t need Minnesota to come in and say that they love the environment more than we do.”

He said that state officials have invited Minnesota regulators to visit carbon capture projects here, but no one has accepted the offer.

Carbon dioxide produced by the burning of coal and other fossil fuels has been blamed for global warming

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