U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Statement on President Trump’s Political Attack on Minnesota’s Energy Infrastructure

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it was cancelling energy infrastructure awards only in states that either did not support him in the presidential election or whose Senators are pushing to negotiate a bipartisan deal to re-open the federal government amidst the current shutdown, including Minnesota.

"This is beyond stupid. At a time when most Minnesotans are just trying to scrape together enough money to pay their bills and live their lives, these politically motivated attacks on our state are just going to make it that much harder for Minnesotans to pay their utility bills every month," said Senator Smith. "It's not a coincidence he only canceled grants in states that didn't support his Presidential election bid, even though this is going to hurt every single Minnesotan whether they're a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent. It's not even thought out well, because a lot of this infrastructure is shared with states that did vote for him like South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska, so they're going to feel the brunt of this too. He thinks using Minnesotans as political pawns will somehow bully me into abandoning my work trying to get a bipartisan deal to get out of this government shutdown. That's not happening, and we'll see if these cuts survive legal scrutiny.

Some of the Minnesota projects cancelled include:

• $464 million to build new electrical transmission lines connecting power sources across Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas
• $50 million to upgrade an out-of-date, aging electrical transmission line connecting Minnesota and North Dakota so more power can flow efficiently
• $80 million for battery systems designed to run over multiple days to make sure power is running through Minnesota's electrical grid at all times
• $1.7 million to research ways to ensure solar projects save people money and preserve local ecosystems