(American Experiment) — Gas prices in Minnesota have reached $4.12 per gallon, according to AAA, making them the highest since 2013, when prices hit $4.27 per gallon. Diesel prices, on the other hand, have reached $5.30 per gallon, making them a new all-time high.
AAA has an interesting map that shows the average price by county. Prices are highest in Northeastern and Southeastern Minnesota, with Central areas of the state having prices below the state average.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows diesel prices are at an all-time high.
While many Minnesotans probably don’t notice the price of diesel rising, they need to understand that diesel engines make our modern economy possible, and that rising fuel prices mean everything else gets more expensive.
Virtually every piece of equipment used to grow and transport your food runs on diesel. Most of the mining equipment used to dig up the metals and minerals that are processed into our smartphones, laptops, computers, and countertops run on diesel. When politicians enact policies that make fuel more expensive, they are causing the price of everything else to increase along with it.
Unfortunately, the energy policies enacted by liberal politicians show that they don’t understand how important these energy sources are to our daily lives, and we are feeling the consequences of their ignorance.
Both President Biden and Governor Walz have unnecessarily obstructed the construction of oil pipelines. President Biden canceled the permits for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office as a symbolic gesture that he would show his voters that he meant business in curbing oil and gas production. The oil and gas industries were less enthused.
Governor Walz unnecessarily delayed the Line 3 replacement project on multiple occasions. Amazingly, his administration did so by arguing that Minnesotans would not need the oil transported by the updated pipeline.
Thankfully, the replacement of the Line 3 pipeline happened, and now that the new pipeline is running at full capacity, it is delivering more oil to the United States every day than we imported from the Russians in 2021.
Energy prices continue to rise because liberal policymakers continue to prioritize symbolic gestures over pragmatism. We need more energy, not less energy. We also need that energy to be reliable, and affordable.
The folks who have told us that they “follow the science,” have forgotten that physics is the root of all the sciences, and no matter how much they wish they could change the laws of physics, they are immune to their mandates for unreliable energy.
Isaac Orr
Isaac Orr is a Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, where he writes about energy and environmental issues.
