Federal Judge Whacks Minnesota Emissions Law

Greenies in Minnesota were not content enough to try and cap their own emissions, they tried (like any liberal, according to the William F. Buckley definition) to limited the emissions of the booming, new energy colossus next door, North Dakota.

The courts have just said "nice try."

Part of Minnesota’s 2007 Next Generation Energy Act, a law intended to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, unconstitutionally regulates out-of state energy producers, a U.S. judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in St. Paul issued an order today prohibiting Minnesota officials from enforcing the part of the law making it illegal to import power from large, new plants in other states that would add to Minnesota’s carbon dioxide emissions.

If states were to adopt its own unique regulations, the integrated market for energy in the country would come to a “grinding halt,” Richard Nelson wrote.

Commerce Clause and all that, I assume.