Renewable Energy Fund Gets Critical Look

ST. PAUL (AP) – Republican state lawmakers are considering killing a renewable energy fund that they say has been a failure.

They say the programs haven’t done much to lower the cost of renewable energy. They’re propsoing to shift the money instead of a general energy account.

Representative Marion O’Neill of Maple Lake says doing so would make sure state money is used appropriately. She called the bill to shift the money, a “course correction.”

Representative Jean Wagenius, a Minneapolis Democrat, pushed back during Monday’s meeting of the House Ways and means committee. She says eliminating the fund would hurt research and development on renewables.