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 »

Cities Across Minnesota Are Becoming EV Smart

August 25, 2023 in Communities, Transportation & Fuels Authors: Alejandro Nakpil, Diana McKeown

Green electric vehicle charging sign

This blog was updated from a blog originally authored by Diana McKeown on November 15, 2022. 

In November of 2022, the Great Plains Institute launched the EV Smart program in Minnesota. EV Smart is a voluntary certification and recognition program funded by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Clean Transportation Pilot Program. GPI designed EV Smart to provide communities with a road map to electric vehicle (EV) readiness and help them equitably achieve their EV-readiness goals through technical assistance and a peer cohort model.   Continue reading »

Next Steps for a Clean Transportation Standard in Minnesota

June 22, 2023 in Transportation & Fuels Author: Mariem Zaghdoudi

Cars in a parking lot

Despite the national and state momentum and the consistent support from the growing Future Fuels Coalition, the proposed Minnesota clean transportation standard did not pass during the state’s recently adjourned legislative session. Yet progress will continue this summer thanks to legislation requiring the establishment of a working group on a clean transportation standard in the state. Continue reading »

Minnesota’s Historic Legislative Session Delivers Clean Energy, Climate Wins

June 14, 2023 in Communities, Transportation & Fuels Author: Carolyn Berninger

Minnesota legislators and advocates seized a unique opportunity this spring to pass transformative clean energy and climate policy that will jump-start the state’s transition to a lower-carbon economy. The state’s legislative session adjourned on May 22, and it was a busy few months at the Capitol. The state’s historic budget surplus, unified Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) control of state government, and significant federal investments in clean energy set the stage for ambitious policymaking in 2023. Continue reading »

Minnesota Approves Comprehensive Statewide Electric Vehicle Readiness Assistance

May 24, 2023 in News & Press, Transportation & Fuels Author: Darren Goode

 Budget deals significantly elevate state’s effort to expand transportation electrification

May 24, 2023, MINNEAPOLIS—Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has signed into law a sweeping set of first-time incentives and other funding approved by the state legislature that significantly elevates the state’s efforts to expand transportation electrification.    Continue reading »