With last night’s State of the State speech, Governor Dayton made himself one of the leading clean energy gubernatorial voices in America, and is certainly the new leader on climate and energy in the 10 Midwestern states where Fresh Energy collaborates.

After a long and arduous election cycle, it’s no surprise that Americans who care deeply about climate and energy are impatient. We’re impatient with the toxic relationship between politics and climate policy. We’re disillusioned by the energy debate during the election season that revolved around which candidate would expand gas and oil drilling more eagerly. America is calling on you, Mr. President.

If you care about global warming, you may have noticed the presidential candidates’ pronounced silence on the issue. Just four years ago, action on climate was prominently featured in both parties’ platforms. So why is global warming now off the table?

In 1999, when the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission required Xcel Energy to double its renewable energy commitment to one gigawatt, it was a pretty big deal. How wrong we were to think that a $2 billion renewable energy investment would be ambitious. Today, the region supports more than $20 billion.

Fossil fuels — oil and coal and natural gas — are the central energy source of the world’s economy. No wonder there’s a credibility problem with swapping the old system for a new one, in spite of abundant evidence that the Earth’s climate will change radically due to carbon pollution from those fossil fuels.

On December 14, Senator Al Franken and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave a thorough review of how a cottage industry of conservative foundations funded by oil and coal industries has manufactured public confusion and misinformation on climate change.

House and Senate Republicans have attached a hurried decision on Keystone XL to the biggest grudge match in the 2012 legislative endgame—extending the payroll tax break.

Two years ago around this time, the day’s top headlines heralded the release of 1,079 of scientists’ private emails. Embarrassing snippets were repeated endlessly in blogs, news outlets, and social media—an incident dubbed “Climategate” by a lazy press. This time, I will not be silent.

Fresh Energy applauds both President Obama and the U.S. Department of State for their decision to take another look at the routing and environmental impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project.

After four years of threatening to sue Minnesota over its climate change policies, North Dakota finally did. We analyze the real reasons why.