Biden visits Twin Cities to tout green investments

Minnesota pols turnout for president’s visit

By H. Jiahong Contributing Writer

President Biden visited the Twin Cities on Monday to tour a manufacturing plant in Fridley, and to tout his investment addressing climate change in his attempt to make the United States the leader in clean energy manufacturing.

The plant, run by engine manufacturer Cummins, announced a new line of hydrogen engines in March and is converting 100,000 square feet of their assembly lines to produce electrolyzers, which shocks water with electricity to produce hydrogen. Cummins says the investment is made possible because of increasing demand and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as well as their goals to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“As a result of this legislation, we saw demand for U.S.-made electrolyzers skyrocket. And what we’ve seen here today is our ability to capitalize on that demand, and create 100 new jobs here in Fridley,” said Cummins Senior Vice President Tony

Satterthwaite. Their Fridley facility will be the first in the United States to manufacture them.

The IRA, which passed Congress in August 2022, invests

Rev. Ian Bethel, a pastor at New Beginnings Baptist Ministries where the press conference was held, was joined by members of the UCMT to voice their disapproval of the signed agreement. The organization, which dates back to the early 2000s, is a multicultural group of residents working to bring solutions around public safety and public health issues.

Rev. Bethel serves as the group’s chair and played a role in a 2003 agreement, which called for the reform of the Minneapolis Police Department then. The UCMT believes that their history in leading police reform and their involvement in reaching a settlement agreement were ignored.

“The content of the settlement agreement is really a reinstatement of the memorandum of understanding negotiated and signed by the Unity Community Mediation Team and the Minneapolis Police Department and vetted by the City Attorney’s office,” Bethel said.

“The Unity Community Mediation Team objects to being erased from history, and we insist that you correct the record and acknowledge the key role of the UCMT, and the diverse organizations and communities represented on the Unity Community Mediation Team in the in green jobs and technology. The act brings $8.5 billion in large-scale clean power generation and storage to the state, as well as associated jobs, over

Commissioner Lucero and Mayor Frey both refer to the agreement as “a framework” to help guide the city in a direction that addresses race-based policing and upholds the integrity of public safety. Though the agreement is seen as legally binding, the city of Minneapolis and its police department admitted no fault to the findings of the DHR. This lack of accountability is what members of the UCMT believe falls short in the agreement.

“My biggest concern, as a Black man, is the lack of acknowledgement of the wrongdoing that our police officers have done to us,” said AJ Flowers, project coordinator for the Young People’s Task Force.

“If we cannot acknowledge the discrimination and abuse that we have suffered, our African American brothers and sisters and our Native brothers and sisters, along with all our melinated brothers and sisters within this city of Minneapolis, then we will never move forward on a path of true justice.” Minneapolis City Attorney Kristyn Anderson has stated that it is typical for a settlement agreement not to have an admission of liability. The agreement, she stated, was to come together for negotiations of reform.

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