Twenty-nine state senators — all the Democrats in the Minnesota Senate except three — are forming a new caucus to push for clean energy and fight climate change. We asked Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk how that squares with his support of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline upgrade. Bakk says we’re moving to more electric vehicles but “until we decide to quit using cars, we’re gonna need petroleum. But as we move to cleaner cars, more and more electric and it becomes more affordable, I’m hopeful that we’ll need less fossil fuels.”
Analysts say Bakk is backing the clean energy caucus because Woodbury Democrat Susan Kent is challenging him for the minority leader position and he needs more metro area support. Bakk responds a decision on a clean energy push was made well before those developments. Kent says she’s undecided whether she supports Line 3.