Court Awards North Dakota Money in Case Against State of Minnesota

The seven year battle between North Dakota and the State of Minnesota may now be at an end, with the affirmance of an award of attorney fees imposed against the Minnesota officials named in the suit. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem sued Minnesota in 2011 over the restrictions imposed by Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act (NGEA). In the lawsuit, the State and co-plaintiffs, North Dakota rural electric utilities and energy companies who serve the needs of consumers in the upper Midwest, alleged that the Minnesota law violated the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution by restricting transmission of electricity generated in North Dakota and consumed in Minnesota unless it met that state’s carbon dioxide emission requirements. Yesterday, an appellate panel upheld the award to North Dakota for $1.3 million. Added to that amount is the right to pursue recovery of interest at the prevailing federal rate and the costs of pursuing the fee through the courts.