State will appeal ruling against Minnesota's clean energy law

Minnesota will appeal a federal appellate court’s decision last week that Minnesota’s 2007 clean energy law illegally regulates out-of-state utilities.  Gov. Mark Dayton announced the appeal of a decision by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state is asking for a “rehearing.” Usually, that would entail an “en banc” review by the entire Eighth Circuit bench, which has more than 12 judges. Such court petitions aren’t easy to get accepted. In a win for North Dakota, the three-judge Eighth Circuit panel upheld a lower-court ruling that Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act interfered with federal law. The state law takes aim at coal, restricting electricity from power plants that increase greenhouse gases. However, North Dakota claimed the law hampered its ability to sell coal-based electricity into Minnesota and therefore to build new coal power plants.