Minnesota committee advances bill to lift nuclear moratorium; amendment protects Prairie Island

The Minnesota House Committee on Energy Finance and Policy on Wednesday adopted an amendment to House File 2002 that bars new nuclear construction on Prairie Island and forbids storage of outside spent fuel there, and then voted to place the bill on the General Register.

The amendment (DE2), offered by Representative Igoe, was described as placeholder language developed in consultation with the Prairie Island Indian Community; the committee approved the amendment by voice vote and later approved moving HF2002, as amended, to the General Register by voice vote.

The vote advances a proposal to lift the state's nuclear moratorium and allow utilities and local governments to consider building or permitting nuclear facilities. Representative Igoe said the measure does not itself permit any new reactor and "is not permitting a new nuclear power plant," but would remove the statutory barrier that prevents consideration, planning and permitting under state law.

Supporters, including several labor, municipal and clean-energy groups, told the committee that lifting the moratorium would allow Minnesota to consider nuclear as a carbon-free source of "base load" power to help meet growing electricity demand and the state's long-term carbon-free goals. Rachel Stuckey, executive director of the Minnesota Conservative Energy Forum, said nuclear's high availability matters for grid stability: "Nuclear facilities maintain an impressive 92% capacity factor offering nearly 3 times the dependability of wind generation and twice that of natural gas or coal plants." Testimony in favor also came from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, municipal utilities, labor unions (including the IBEW and Minnesota Pipe Trades), the Midwest Reliability Organization and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association.

Opponents urged caution. Blake Johnson, government relations representative for the Prairie Island Indian Community, said his community remains opposed and emphasized the local, intergenerational stakes: "Our reservation sits less than 700 yards from the plant and over a thousand tons of nuclear waste generated from the Prairie Island nuclear plant." Johnson told the committee that tribal members have lived adjacent to the plant for decades and that the community is continuing internal discussion on whether to change its long-held opposition.

Tom Thompson, co-chair of Sierra Club North Star, said the chapter "strongly opposes lifting the moratorium on nuclear plants in Minnesota," citing safety risks, long-term storage of high-level waste, environmental justice concerns for Indigenous and low-income communities, and rising costs for nuclear projects compared with alternatives such as wind, solar, storage and efficiency.

Committee members asked about health data, timelines and costs. Representative Kraft said he was moved by Johnson's testimony and asked whether the tribe had reported adverse health impacts; Johnson replied he could not cite studies showing a definitive causal link given the community's small population and sampling limits. Several members who identified themselves as "nuclear curious" sought more information on cost, timelines and waste solutions before supporting full repeal.

Representative Igoe framed the bill as restoring the ability of utilities, municipal systems and cooperatives to study, plan and, where appropriate, pursue nuclear options and argued that lifting the moratorium is required before those parties will invest in planning and permitting. The committee record shows broad, bipartisan testimony for and against; the DE2 amendment was described as a step to ensure Prairie Island would not be used for new construction or outside spent-fuel storage.

The formal actions recorded in the transcript are adoption of the Igoe DE2 amendment and the committee vote to place House File 2002, as amended, on the General Register. Both were approved by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the hearing transcript.

Next steps: HF2002, as amended, now goes to the General Register. Further committee hearings, technical studies and local consultation were discussed repeatedly by members as the next phase before any permitting, financing or siting could occur.