Report: Lessons Learned from Twin Cities Climate and Energy Community Engagement Efforts

July 19, 2024 in Transportation & Fuels Author: Katelyn Bocklund

The Great Plains Institute (GPI) launched the community engagement phase of its Electric Vehicle Education for All initiative in February 2024, subcontracting with three community-based organizations to carry out the engagement. Our initiative seeks to deeply engage frontline and historically marginalized communities within the Twin Cities area to learn firsthand how they perceive electric mobility, identify electric mobility literacy gaps, and provide educational materials to increase access to electric mobility benefits. Continue reading »

Unpacking the New EPA Light- and Medium-Duty Vehicle Emissions Rule

April 9, 2024 in Transportation & Fuels Author: M. Moaz Uddin

On March 20, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the final vehicle standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles. These rules are meant to reduce air pollution by limiting vehicle tailpipe emissions. The regulations will allow American consumers to choose more cost-effective, eco-friendly vehicles, resulting in annual savings on fuel and upkeep expenses. Continue reading »

Analyses Show Economic and Air Quality Benefits of a Clean Fuel Standard in Michigan

March 11, 2024 in Transportation & Fuels Author: Mariem Zaghdoudi

New analyses commissioned by the Great Plains Institute project that adopting a clean fuel standard would bring about economic and air quality benefits for Michiganders while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Michigan is one of several Midwestern states working to pass legislation to implement the technology-neutral, market-based policy, also known as a low-carbon fuel standard, clean transportation standard, or clean fuels policy. Continue reading »

Diverse Minnesota Working Group Charts Path for Historic Clean Transportation Standard

February 1, 2024 in News & Press, Transportation & Fuels Author: Darren Goode

Minnesota Future Fuels Coalition applauds state working group’s efforts ahead of unprecedented legislative push this year

February 1, 2024, MINNEAPOLIS— The Minnesota Future Fuels Coalition applauds a diverse working group headed by Minnesota state agencies for cementing and detailing support for a first-of-its-kind statewide clean transportation standard.

The Clean Transportation Standard Work Group released a new report and recommendations today underscoring the “transformative emissions reduction” and other benefits to Minnesota becoming the first Midwestern state to issue such a standard. Continue reading »

Minnesota Fires Offer Lessons on Resilience Measures

December 18, 2023 in Transportation & Fuels Author: Hannah Haas

view of a forest from a fire tower

Minnesota’s largest wildfire in a century started with a lightning strike in August 2011. It burned slowly for a few weeks before more than tripling in size in a few days, driven by an unprecedented wind event. All told, the Pagami Creek Fire burned more than 92,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Almost ten years later, the Greenwood Fire burned nearly 20,000 acres, mostly within the Superior National Forest, which prompted the first temporary closure of the Boundary Waters since the 1970s. Continue reading »

Transportation Electrification Progress Since the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act

November 22, 2023 in Transportation & Fuels Author: M. Moaz Uddin

Two years ago this month, Congress passed the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Transportation electrification was one of the priorities in the legislation—electric vehicles and related infrastructure were eligible for $30.7 billion of the funding. We broke down the electric vehicle programs in a previous blog. Continue reading »

Learn about the Clean Fuel States Collaborative

October 9, 2023 in Transportation & Fuels Author: Mariem Zaghdoudi

Group of employees in a meeting

If you ask the average American how many entities they think are involved in designing a complex policy, they’ll likely say: “Many.” We at the Great Plains Institute (GPI) have found that to be true. To design policy to achieve multiple objectives, it’s critical to engage as many of the stakeholders that would be impacted by that legislation as early in the process as possible. Continue reading »