# Portal - Climate Regime _An entry point to this project's articles on Minnesota's climate and resource instruments: the State's suit against oil producers and the United States' suit to stop it, the electricity and nuclear-storage statutes, the taxes and royalties on the Iron Range's minerals and gas, and the constitutional dedications, districts and agencies that govern water and land_ | Portal - Climate Regime | | |---|---| | Type | portal; publish: false; restates the record; not a finding | | Regime, as the corpus frames it | a toll booth with two fronts: the State's 2020 suit seeking money from out-of-state oil producers, and a royalty the State wrote for itself on helium found on the Iron Range[^1][^2] | | Statute, as the corpus frames it | none in the regime stub; the companion files pair Laws 2024, ch. 116, art. 3, with the Legacy Amendment and the Prairie Island cask payments[^1][^3] | | Toll, as the corpus frames it | revenue drawn from activities the State condemns, traced from nineteenth-century timber and land grants to helium[^3] | | Immunity, as the corpus frames it | constitutional dedications and appointed boards that hold the revenue apart from ordinary appropriation[^3] | | Federal caption, as the corpus frames it | *United States v. Minnesota & Ellison*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn., filed May 4, 2026)[^1][^2] | | What the record shows | a federal preemption suit that names no Minnesota statute and disclaims any challenge to in-state environmental standards; a 2024 royalty floor that applies to gas leased from state land; dedications adopted by the voters; and payment, tax and settlement instruments signed under governors of three party labels[^4][^5][^6][^7][^8][^9] | | Federal action | *United States v. State of Minnesota and Keith Ellison*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn., filed May 4, 2026), five counts; the State moved to dismiss on May 29, 2026[^10][^11][^12] | | State action | *Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute*, No. 62-CV-20-3837 (Ramsey Cty. Dist. Ct., filed June 24, 2020)[^13][^14] | | Federal order invoked | Executive Order 14260, *Protecting American Energy From State Overreach* (April 8, 2025)[^15] | | Parent article | [[How Minnesota Got Here]] | | Status | portal; sixteen articles in four parts; adjudicates nothing | **The Climate Regime** is the name this project's corpus gives to one of the ten "regimes" in its At Issue folder. The regime stub describes it as a toll booth with two gases: outward, the Attorney General's suit against oil producers over climate change; inward, a royalty the State set for itself on helium discovered on the Iron Range.[^1][^2] The companion essay extends the frame backward, through the Iron Range's dedicated taxes, the nuclear-storage payments at Prairie Island and the constitutional dedication of sales-tax revenue, and treats them as one architecture of revenue and appointed boards.[^3] This portal is the entry point to the project's articles on that subject: sixteen articles on the lawsuits, the statutes, the agencies and the dedications the corpus names.[^4][^17][^18] The record the articles assemble is narrower in some places and broader in others than the corpus's frame. The federal complaint asks a court to declare the State's 2020 suit unconstitutional and to enjoin it; it quotes the federal energy agency's finding that "Minnesota has no fossil fuel reserves or production" and states that no claim in it challenges local regulation such as "environmental standards for in-state operations".[^4][^19][^5] The word helium does not appear in it.[^4][^20] The 2024 gas law bars production without a permit until rules are adopted and sets a royalty floor of "not less than 18.75 percent of the gross sales price" on gas or oil produced under a state lease.[^21][^22] The dedications the corpus calls immunities were adopted by the voters, the 1964 taconite amendment by 1,272,590 votes to 204,133 and the 2008 Legacy Amendment by 1,635,046 to 1,141,540.[^7][^8] The instruments were signed or adopted across party lines. The Iron Range agency dates from a 1941 law enacted while Harold Stassen, a Republican, was governor; the Prairie Island storage act was signed in 1994 by Arne Carlson, an Independent-Republican, and restructured in 2003 under Tim Pawlenty, a Republican; the MPCA's citizen board was eliminated in 2015 under Mark Dayton, and the carbon-free standard and the gas law were signed in 2023 and 2024 under Tim Walz, both of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.[^23][^24][^25][^26][^27][^28][^9][^29] The corpus's claims about the regime are set against the record in [[#Corpus claims checked]].[^30][^2] ## How to read this portal The articles are grouped in four parts: the two lawsuits and the federal order; electricity and nuclear storage; minerals and gas on the Iron Range; and water, land and the agencies that hold them. Each section gives a short, footnoted summary, the article it leads to and the other articles in this portal it connects to; every connection is listed from both ends. Articles marked *new* are not yet written; their sections rest on the records read for this portal. Officials appear in their official capacity, and neither suit's allegations are treated as established.[^4][^13] ## The spine | # | Part | Article | What it covers | Kind | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | I. The two suits | [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] | the United States' 2026 suit to enjoin the State's climate case | vault page | | 2 | I. The two suits | [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] | the State's 2020 consumer-protection suit against oil producers | new | | 3 | I. The two suits | [[Executive Order 14260]] | the April 2025 order directing action against state energy suits | new | | 4 | I. The two suits | [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] | the office that brought the 2010 3M suit and the 2020 oil suit | vault page | | 5 | II. Electricity | [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] | Laws 2023, ch. 7, and § 216B.1691, subd. 2g | new | | 6 | II. Electricity | [[Prairie Island dry cask storage payments]] | Laws 1994, ch. 641; Laws 2003, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 11; § 116C.779 | new | | 7 | II. Electricity | [[Xcel Energy]] | the utility that owns the Prairie Island and Monticello plants | vault page | | 8 | III. Minerals and gas | [[Taconite Amendment]] | the 1964 constitutional protection of the taconite tax law | new | | 9 | III. Minerals and gas | [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] | the 1941 agency and its board of legislators, § 298.22 | vault page | | 10 | III. Minerals and gas | [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] | Laws 2024, ch. 116, art. 3; §§ 93.513–93.516; the 2026 helium law | new | | 11 | III. Minerals and gas | [[DNR]] | the permitting and leasing agency, co-trustee of the 3M money | vault page | | 12 | IV. Water and land | [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] | Minn. Const. art. XI, sec. 15 (2008) | new | | 13 | IV. Water and land | [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] | Minn. Stat. ch. 103D, managers and levies | new | | 14 | IV. Water and land | [[Legislative Auditor's 2007 watershed management evaluation]] | the January 2007 evaluation of local water management | new | | 15 | IV. Water and land | [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] | the 1967 agency, § 116.02, and its citizen board (1967–2015) | vault page | | 16 | IV. Water and land | [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] | the $850 million agreement of February 20, 2018 | new | ## Part I — The two suits and the federal order The regime's federal caption is a suit by the United States against a suit by the State. The State's case, filed in Ramsey County in 2020, alleges that oil producers and their trade association deceived Minnesota consumers about climate change; the United States' case, filed in federal court in 2026 on the day a state-court stay dissolved, alleges that the State's case regulates global emissions in a field reserved to the federal government. Both rest on pleadings no court has yet tested at trial.[^13][^31][^32] ### US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456) [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] is the federal case: *United States v. State of Minnesota and Keith Ellison*, No. 0:26-cv-02456, filed in the District of Minnesota on May 4, 2026 against the State and the Attorney General, who is "sued in his official capacity".[^33] The complaint asks the court to declare the Ramsey County suit unconstitutional and unlawful and to enjoin the defendants, preliminarily and permanently, from pursuing it.[^4] It pleads five counts: federal preclusion because the subject is uniquely federal; federal preclusion because the suit regulates beyond the State's borders; preemption under the Clean Air Act; preemption under the foreign-affairs power, citing a January 2026 presidential memorandum on withdrawal from the United Nations climate framework; and a violation of the Commerce Clause.[^10][^34][^35][^5][^11][^36] The complaint's factual case begins with the federal energy agency: it quotes the finding that "Minnesota has no fossil fuel reserves or production" and that the State "consumes about four times more energy than it produces", and contrasts those facts with a suit against producers headquartered elsewhere.[^19][^14] It recounts the state case's appeals and a stay that ran until fourteen days after their final disposition, and states that the United States "immediately sued the day the state court's stay dissolved".[^31] It cites a 2026 Iowa statute limiting liability for greenhouse-gas emissions as evidence of conflict among the states.[^37][^34] At paragraph 99 it disclaims any challenge to local regulations that incidentally affect international companies, giving as its example "environmental standards for in-state operations".[^5] The Justice Department's release presents the filing as action under the President's order on state overreach.[^32] A public litigation database records an amicus brief from Iowa and 22 other states supporting a preliminary injunction, filed May 18, 2026, and the State's motion to dismiss, filed May 29, 2026; the database page read for this portal, which displays four of its twelve entries, shows no ruling on a preliminary injunction or on the motion to dismiss.[^12] The vault page is a stub that records the docket number, court, date and parties. _Main article:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] _Connects to:_ [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] · [[Executive Order 14260]] · [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] · [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] · [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] ### Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] is the State's suit, No. 62-CV-20-3837, filed by the Attorney General in Ramsey County on June 24, 2020 against ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and three Koch Industries entities, as the Attorney General's release counted them; the federal complaint and the Eighth Circuit caption name six defendants, two of them ExxonMobil corporations.[^13][^38][^14] The Attorney General's release described it as a suit "to stop deceptive practices related to climate change", with claims for fraud, failure to warn, consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false statements in advertising, and sought an injunction, restitution and a corrective public education campaign.[^13] The federal complaint lists the same five claims and quotes the Eighth Circuit's description of the relief as including disgorgement of profits.[^14] The defendants removed the case to federal court. The district court remanded it, and on March 23, 2023 the Eighth Circuit affirmed in an opinion by Judge Kobes; Judge Stras concurred, writing that under current law the case does not arise under federal law but should, because "it seeks a global remedy for a global issue".[^40][^41][^42] On January 8, 2024 the Supreme Court denied review, and the Attorney General's office announced that the suit "may proceed in state court".[^43] The state district court denied most of the motions to dismiss in February 2025 and stayed proceedings in June 2025 while the defendants appealed on personal jurisdiction and Minnesota's anti-SLAPP statute.[^42][^31] The Court of Appeals affirmed in January 2026, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied review on April 15, 2026, and the Court of Appeals entered judgment on April 20; the stay dissolved on May 4.[^44][^45][^31] The Attorney General's statement after the April ruling ended "Onward to discovery and trial".[^45] The suit's theory is consumer deception, not a tax or royalty; the corpus pairs it with the helium royalty as two postures of one government, a pairing no pleading in either case makes.[^13][^20][^4] _Main article:_ [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] · [[Executive Order 14260]] · [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] · [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] ### Executive Order 14260 [[Executive Order 14260]], *Protecting American Energy From State Overreach*, was signed April 8, 2025.[^15] Section 2 directs the Attorney General to identify state laws, causes of action and policies that burden domestic energy and "are or may be unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable", giving priority to those addressing climate change, greenhouse-gas emissions and carbon penalties.[^47] It then directs the Attorney General to "take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State laws and continuation of civil actions" so identified, and to report within 60 days.[^48] The Minnesota complaint cites the order in its introduction and in its account of national energy policy, and lists four earlier suits by the United States against New York, Vermont, Hawaii and Michigan as part of the same effort.[^37][^49] The Justice Department's release states that the Minnesota filing "advances" the order and quotes the Associate Attorney General that "Minnesota officials cannot undermine his directive".[^32] The order states that it does not "create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law"; the complaint's counts rest on the Constitution and the Clean Air Act, and cite the order as policy.[^15][^35] _Main article:_ [[Executive Order 14260]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] · [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] ### Attorney General of Minnesota [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] is the constitutional office that brought both of the State's large environmental suits in the record. The 3M settlement records that "Minnesota's attorney general sued 3M in 2010" over PFAS contamination, and the 2018 agreement was entered by the State "by its Attorney General" together with the commissioners of the Pollution Control Agency and Natural Resources.[^51][^52] The 2020 oil suit was filed by the office under its consumer-protection statutes.[^13] The federal complaint names the State and the Attorney General, who it states "is responsible for" the Ramsey County case, and sues him in his official capacity.[^33] The office's releases of January 2024 and April 2026 announced the Supreme Court's refusal to review the remand and the Minnesota Supreme Court's refusal to review the denial of dismissal.[^43][^45] The vault page covers the office's constitutional status, election and duties; this portal's sections record only the office's acts in the two suits and the settlement. _Main article:_ [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] _Connects to:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] · [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] · [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] ## Part II — Electricity and nuclear storage The electricity instruments are the inward half of the regime as the corpus draws it: statutes that set what Minnesota's utilities must generate and what the owner of its nuclear plants must pay to keep spent fuel on site. They were enacted in 1994, 2003 and 2023, under an Independent-Republican, a Republican and a Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor, and the federal complaint does not challenge them.[^53][^25][^27][^9][^29][^5] ### Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota) [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] is Laws 2023, ch. 7 (H.F. 7), which was presented to and signed by the governor on February 7, 2023, while Tim Walz (DFL) was governor.[^27][^9] It added subdivision 2g to § 216B.1691, requiring each electric utility to generate or procure electricity from carbon-free technologies equal to set shares of its retail sales in Minnesota: 80 percent for public utilities and 60 percent for other utilities by 2030, 90 percent for all by 2035, and "100 percent for all electric utilities" by 2040.[^27] The section sits beside the older renewable-energy and solar standards, and the utilities report their plans and progress to the Public Utilities Commission, which administers compliance.[^54][^55] The federal complaint does not mention the standard. The complaint's account of Minnesota's energy is drawn from the federal energy agency, which describes a state using "significant renewable resources" and producing little energy of its own, and its first factual heading characterizes the State's suit as conduct "in Support of Its Local Energy Policies".[^19] Its paragraph 99 disclaims any challenge to environmental standards for operations within the State.[^5] The corpus files do not treat the 2023 standard as a toll; the essay's chain runs from the Iron Range and Prairie Island to the Legacy Amendment and helium.[^3] The standard binds every electric utility in the State, including the owner of the two nuclear plants, whose own December 2018 goal of carbon-free electricity by 2050 Wikipedia's entry on the company records.[^56] _Main article:_ [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] · [[Prairie Island dry cask storage payments]] · [[Xcel Energy]] ### Prairie Island dry cask storage payments [[Prairie Island dry cask storage payments]] treats the statute that tied the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Prairie Island plant to an annual payment for renewable energy. Laws 1994, ch. 641 (S.F. 1706), presented May 6 and signed May 10, 1994 by Arne Carlson, ratified the environmental review and certificate of need for dry cask storage, allowed five casks at once and more on conditions, and capped storage at the capacity of 17 casks.[^57][^58][^9] Its section 10, new § 116C.779, required the plant's operator to transfer "$500,000 each year for each dry cask containing spent fuel" stored after January 1, 1999 to a renewable development account, and provided that "Funds in the account can only be expended for development of renewable energy sources".[^24] The 1994 act also approved continued pool storage at Monticello and required development of wind power.[^53] Laws 2003, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 11 (H.F. 9), signed May 29, 2003 under Tim Pawlenty, replaced the per-cask transfer with $16 million a year while the plant operates, and directed the Public Utilities Commission to let the utility recover through rates the cost of a settlement with the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Council at Prairie Island, which must provide annual payments of up to $2.5 million to the Prairie Island Indian Community, among other purposes for land to be taken into trust.[^25][^59][^9] The current text of § 116C.779 moves the account into the state treasury and, from January 15, 2018, again computes the Prairie Island transfer at $500,000 for each cask, with the annual total "reduced by $3,750,000", and adds $350,000 for each cask at Monticello.[^60] The plant stands beside the Prairie Island Indian Community's reservation on the Mississippi; Wikipedia's entry on the plant records that the 1994 limit followed opposition from the tribe and environmental groups to a 1991 request for 48 casks.[^62] _Main article:_ [[Prairie Island dry cask storage payments]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] · [[Xcel Energy]] ### Xcel Energy [[Xcel Energy]] is, according to Wikipedia's entry on the company, the Minneapolis-based utility that owns and operates the Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants and stores their spent fuel on site; it is therefore the "public utility that owns the Prairie Island nuclear generating plant" on which § 116C.779 places the cask payments.[^56][^60] It is also an electric utility subject to the 2023 carbon-free standard; its own announced goal, from December 2018, was carbon-free electricity by 2050 (Wikipedia's entry on the company gives the interim target as an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2030 in one passage and by 2035 in another).[^27][^56] The vault page treats the company chiefly through the 2022 tritium leak at Monticello and the state penalty that followed, together with its corporate history; those matters rest on the page's own sources. For this portal the company's place is statutory: the 1994 act's storage authorization and payments, the 2003 restructuring of those payments and the rate recovery for its settlement with the tribal council, the current per-cask formulas for both plants, and the generation shares that § 216B.1691 requires of every utility.[^24][^25][^59][^60][^54] The Pollution Control Agency, which administers the State's water and air pollution laws, is treated in Part IV.[^63][^64] _Main article:_ [[Xcel Energy]] _Connects to:_ [[Carbon-free electricity standard (Minnesota)]] · [[Prairie Island dry cask storage payments]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] ## Part III — Minerals and gas on the Iron Range Northeastern Minnesota's mineral instruments are the oldest part of the regime as the corpus draws it and the newest: an agency funded from mining taxes since 1941, a constitutional amendment of 1964 that froze the taconite tax law for twenty-five years, and a 2024 framework for gas production written after helium was found by accident in Lake County. The 1941 law was enacted under a Republican governor, the amendment was adopted by the voters, and the 2024 and 2026 gas laws were signed by a Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor.[^23][^7][^28][^65][^9] ### Taconite Amendment [[Taconite Amendment]] is the 1964 amendment now printed as article X, section 6 of the Minnesota Constitution. The Legislature proposed it in Laws 1963, ch. 99, and the voters adopted it at the 1964 election by 1,272,590 votes to 204,133, out of 1,586,173 ballots cast; the Legislative Reference Library states its purpose as "To prevent amendment or repeal of taconite tax policies for 25 years".[^7] The text provides that the 1963 taconite tax law, Laws 1963, ch. 81, "shall not be repealed, modified or amended", and that no conflicting law shall be valid, "until November 4, 1989"; it also allowed the Legislature to fix or limit, until 1990, the tax on copper and nickel mining.[^66] The amendment did not create a revenue stream. It restrained the State's own power to change the taxes on taconite producers for a fixed period, and it declared that taxes on taconite paid in place of property taxes were not occupation, royalty or excise taxes within its meaning.[^66] Its protection ran out on its own terms in 1989; the section remains in the Constitution's text.[^66] The corpus lists the amendment among its tolls as a constitutional tax shelter for an industry the State would later contest.[^3] According to Wikipedia's entry on the agency, taconite producers pay production taxes, in place of property taxes, to local governments and to the Iron Range agency described in the next section.[^67] _Main article:_ [[Taconite Amendment]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] · [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] ### Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] is the agency created in 1941, now organized under § 298.22 as the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, "created as an agency in the executive branch of state government" under a commissioner the governor appoints.[^23] Its expenses are paid from amounts appropriated by § 298.28; Wikipedia's entry on the agency describes its task as using the proceeds of taconite mining to spur wider development of the Range, and gives its 2024 budget as $67.8 million.[^23][^67] The board itself is a body of legislators. Subdivision 1a seats the state senators and representatives elected from districts in which a third or more of the residents live in a taconite assistance area, plus one additional senator appointed by the Senate, and provides that "All expenditures and projects made by the commissioner shall first be submitted to the advisory board", which recommends approval, disapproval or change.[^23] The statute's history begins with Laws 1941, ch. 544, enacted while Harold Stassen was governor, and runs through dozens of later amendments.[^23][^9] The corpus calls the 1941 office the first dedicated fund under an appointed board; on the statute's current text the board's members hold their seats as elected legislators, and the commissioner is the governor's appointee.[^3][^23] _Main article:_ [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] _Connects to:_ [[Taconite Amendment]] · [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] ### Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024) [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] treats the law written after helium was discovered. The Department of Natural Resources records that "helium was accidentally discovered in Lake County in 2011", that a helium-focused company confirmed high-grade concentrations at the same site in 2024, and that the State then had no rules for gas production.[^69] Laws 2024, ch. 116, signed May 21, 2024, answered in article 3.[^28] Section 23, now § 93.513, bars production of gas or oil without a permit from the commissioner of natural resources, defines gas to include nonhydrocarbon gases, and provides a moratorium: "Until rules are adopted under section 93.514", no production permit may issue unless the Legislature approves a temporary permit framework.[^21] Section 24 authorizes rules by several agencies, and section 55 created a technical advisory committee, whose members the commissioner could draw from agencies including the Department of Revenue and the Attorney General's office, to recommend a temporary framework covering permitting, financial assurance, taxation and environmental review, with a report to the Legislature due January 15, 2025.[^17][^70] Section 25, now § 93.516, lets the commissioner, with the Executive Council's approval, lease state lands for gas or oil, defining noble gases as "a group of gases that includes helium", and requires the lessee to pay a production royalty of "not less than 18.75 percent of the gross sales price" of the product sold.[^22][^6] The royalty is a term of a state lease; the 2024 law sets no royalty on gas produced from private mineral rights.[^6][^71] The House's report on the bill described its sponsor's aim to set a royalty structure on state lands and noted that without it companies "could potentially pull from pools under public lands without compensating the state".[^72] The DNR reports no active state gas leases.[^71] A trade-press report of May 28, 2026 states that the governor signed a further law, limited to helium wells in Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, that bans oil wells and hydraulic fracturing in gas wells and allows sale of carbon dioxide captured in helium production; that session law was not read for this portal.[^65] _Main article:_ [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[US v. Minnesota & Ellison (official capacity) (0-26-cv-02456)]] · [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] · [[DNR]] ### DNR [[DNR]] is the Department of Natural Resources, the agency the 2024 law makes the permitting authority for gas and oil production and the lessor of state lands for it.[^21][^6] The DNR was asked to lead the multi-agency rulemaking and the technical advisory committee, and was required to publish a notice of intent to adopt rules by May 22, 2026.[^69] Its gas lease program states that lease terms are negotiated case by case, that "All DNR-issued gas leases must be approved by the Minnesota Executive Council", and that no state gas lease is active.[^71] The department is also a party, through its commissioner, to the 2018 3M settlement: the agreement was entered by the State through its Attorney General and its commissioners of pollution control and natural resources, and it assigns the grant to "The MPCA and/or the DNR" for drinking-water and natural-resource projects in the east metropolitan area.[^52][^74] The two agencies are co-trustees of the settlement money.[^51][^75] The vault page treats the department's divisions, commissioners and role under the settlement. The corpus describes the department as permitting authority, lessor and land trustee at once; the 2024 law records the first two roles, and the settlement makes it a co-trustee of the 3M grant.[^2][^21][^6][^51] _Main article:_ [[DNR]] _Connects to:_ [[Minnesota gas and oil production framework (2024)]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] · [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] ## Part IV — Water, land and the agencies that hold them The water and land instruments carry the corpus's second idea, the immunity: revenue dedicated by the Constitution, districts with their own levies, and agencies with appointed boards. The record shows each one's source of authority. The 2008 dedication was adopted by the voters and is spent only as the Legislature appropriates; the watershed districts' managers are appointed by elected county boards under a capped levy; and the Pollution Control Agency's citizen board was abolished in 2015 by a Republican House, a DFL Senate and a DFL governor.[^76][^8][^77][^78][^26][^29] ### Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] is article XI, section 15 of the Minnesota Constitution, proposed in Laws 2008, ch. 151, and adopted at the November 4, 2008 election by 1,635,046 votes to 1,141,540, out of 2,920,214 ballots cast.[^8][^79] From July 1, 2009 until June 30, 2034 it raises the sales and use tax by "three-eighths of one percent" and dedicates the receipts: 33 percent to an outdoor heritage fund for wetlands, prairies, forests and habitat; 33 percent to a clean water fund, at least five percent of which must protect drinking water sources; 14.25 percent to a parks and trails fund; and 19.75 percent to an arts and cultural heritage fund.[^79] The section does not hand the money to any board. It provides that "The money dedicated under this section shall be appropriated by law", that the dedicated money must supplement traditional funding and "may not be used as a substitute", and that land bought with outdoor heritage money must be open to hunting and fishing in season unless law provides otherwise.[^76] The corpus describes the amendment as a sales tax routed to appointed councils; the constitutional text names no council and leaves each appropriation to the Legislature.[^3][^76] Like the 1964 taconite amendment, it is a constitutional provision adopted by referendum, but it runs the other way: the 1964 text limited the State's taxing power, and the 2008 text raised a tax and fixed its uses.[^66][^7][^79] _Main article:_ [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Taconite Amendment]] · [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] ### Watershed districts (Minnesota) [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] treats the local water authorities of chapter 103D. The Legislative Auditor's account traces them to the 1955 Watershed Law, which let citizens or local governments petition the State to establish a district, and to the 1982 Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act, which requires the whole metropolitan area to be managed by a watershed district or a watershed management organization.[^80] The chapter, whose sections date from 1990, states that "the establishment of watershed districts is authorized under this chapter" to conserve natural resources by land use planning and flood control; the section, last amended in 2024, lists among the specific purposes "to control or alleviate damage from floodwaters to promote climate resilience".[^81] The Board of Water and Soil Resources establishes a district after a petition, defines its boundaries and appoints its first managers; after that, the county commissioners of each county responsible for appointing a manager appoint the successors.[^82][^77] A district's general fund levy "may not exceed 0.096 percent of estimated market value, or $500,000, whichever is less", with a further limited levy for projects petitioned by a political subdivision or by at least 50 resident owners.[^78] The Auditor counted 46 districts and described them as independent, multi-jurisdictional authorities with their own taxing and rulemaking powers; with the metropolitan organizations they managed water in about 30 percent of the State.[^84][^80] The corpus's watershed dossier treats them as appointed bodies with taxing power; the statute places the appointments with elected county boards and caps the levy.[^2][^77][^78] _Main article:_ [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] · [[Legislative Auditor's 2007 watershed management evaluation]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] ### Legislative Auditor's 2007 watershed management evaluation [[Legislative Auditor's 2007 watershed management evaluation]] is *Watershed Management*, published by the Program Evaluation Division of the Office of the Legislative Auditor in January 2007.[^85] Its major findings were that the structure is a complex network, with at least 14 federal and state agencies and 11 types of local entities; that the performance of local water management entities "has been mixed"; and that "State oversight of local entities is inadequate".[^86] It found that the Board of Water and Soil Resources had not set performance standards, had not systematically monitored the local entities and "has not adequately held them accountable for fulfilling their goals", and attributed this both to the board's limited authority and to its reluctance to use the authority it had.[^86][^87] The report's cover letter states that "We recommend that the Legislature restructure BWSR", give it more authority and require it to take a stronger role.[^87] Its appendix of case studies includes the Minnehaha Creek, Sauk River, South Two River and Comfort Lake–Forest Lake watershed districts.[^88] Public radio's report on the release described a House committee hearing at which a DFL member of the environment committee called the board's handling of the South Two River district "Unacceptable".[^89] The evaluation is the source on which the corpus's watershed dossier builds its claim of overlapping, weakly supervised local bodies; the Auditor's own findings concern oversight and performance, not revenue.[^2][^86] _Main article:_ [[Legislative Auditor's 2007 watershed management evaluation]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] ### Minnesota Pollution Control Agency [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] is the agency created in 1967, when Harold LeVander was governor, by Laws 1967, ch. 882; § 116.02 provides that "A pollution control agency, designated as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, is hereby created" and makes it the successor of the Water Pollution Control Commission.[^63][^64][^9] The Legislative Reference Library records its authority to administer and enforce the State's laws on water, air and noise pollution and solid waste.[^64] From 1967 to 2015 the agency's legal structure included a Citizens' Board, nine members from 1969, the commissioner and eight members of the public appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.[^26] Laws 2015, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 4, eliminated it; the Library's record states that the elimination was due in part, "according to news reports at the time", to lobbying by large agricultural groups, and notes the governor's advisory committee created by executive order that August and bills introduced in 2023 to reinstate the board.[^26][^63] The 2015 Legislature had a Republican House and a DFL Senate, and Mark Dayton was governor.[^29][^9] The agency is a co-trustee, with the DNR, of the 3M settlement money, and it had entered a separate settlement agreement and consent order with 3M on May 22, 2007.[^51][^52] The vault page, a duplicate of which exists under the title MPCA, also treats the agency's acid-rain work and a 2023 penalty concerning tritiated-water storage at Monticello; Wikipedia's entry on the utility records its March 16, 2023 announcement of a leak of radioactive water that occurred on November 21, 2022.[^91] _Main article:_ [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] _Connects to:_ [[Xcel Energy]] · [[DNR]] · [[Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment]] · [[Watershed districts (Minnesota)]] · [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] ### 3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018) [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] treats the agreement that ended the State's 2010 suit over the chemicals the agreement calls "per- and poly-fluorinated chemicals" (PFCs), now generally called PFAS, in the east metropolitan area.[^51][^75] The Agreement and Order in *State of Minnesota v. 3M Company*, No. 27-CV-10-28862, filed in Hennepin County District Court on February 20, 2018, was entered by the State through its Attorney General and its commissioners of pollution control and natural resources, and provides that "3M will make a Grant in the amount of $850 million to the State".[^52][^74] The grant's first priority is drinking water in Woodbury, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park, Afton, Newport and two townships; the agreement defines a working group of the two agencies, east-metro municipalities and 3M for the projects.[^74][^52] The agreement settles claims it calls disputed and states that "Nothing about the Agreement shall constitute any admission" of fault or liability by either party.[^92] The agencies report that about $720 million remained after legal and other expenses, and report to the Legislature each year on spending.[^51][^75] The suit was brought while Tim Pawlenty was governor and settled while Mark Dayton was governor.[^51][^9] The corpus counts the settlement among its tolls as a payment for chemistry the State had long permitted; the agreement's own terms are a grant for water and natural resources, without admission, in settlement of contested claims.[^3][^92] _Main article:_ [[3M PFAS settlement (Minnesota, 2018)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute]] · [[Attorney General of Minnesota]] · [[DNR]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency]] ## Two readings The two readings below are the strongest forms of the positions the record supports. This portal adopts neither.[^4][^13] **Reading one: a revenue and authority structure built by both parties and kept by both.** On this reading the sixteen articles describe one pattern: the State attaches revenue or control to activities it regulates, and holds the money or the authority apart from the ordinary budget. The 1941 Iron Range agency spends only after a board of Range legislators has reviewed each project; the 1964 amendment fixed the taconite tax law for twenty-five years; the 1994 storage act, passed by a DFL Legislature and signed by an Independent-Republican governor, set a price of $500,000 a year per cask for keeping spent fuel at Prairie Island, and a Republican governor's 2003 law turned it into $16 million a year.[^23][^66][^24][^25][^29][^9] The 2008 dedication fixed a sales tax and its uses until 2034; watershed districts levy their own taxes under managers no voter elects directly; and the 2024 law froze gas production until rules exist and set an 18.75 percent royalty floor on state leases, signed by a DFL governor with a DFL Legislature.[^79][^78][^77][^21][^22][^29] Outward, the Attorney General's 2020 suit seeks restitution and the disgorgement of profits from producers headquartered outside the State.[^13][^14] The Legislative Auditor found in 2007 that state oversight of the local water bodies was inadequate, and the citizen board that decided pollution matters at the Pollution Control Agency was abolished in 2015 by a divided Legislature and a DFL governor.[^86][^26][^29] The federal suit reaches only the outward front: at paragraph 99 it disclaims any challenge to standards for in-state operations.[^5] **Reading two: ordinary resource and consumer-protection law, each piece with its own authority and check.** On this reading there is no single structure. The two constitutional provisions were adopted by the voters, by more than six to one in 1964 and by 1,635,046 to 1,141,540 in 2008, and the 2008 money "shall be appropriated by law".[^7][^8][^76] The 2024 royalty is the price the State sets as landowner for gas from its own land, a term the House's report explained by the risk that companies could draw from pools under public lands without paying for it; the cask payments fund renewable development as a condition of a storage authorization the Legislature voted.[^22][^72][^24] Watershed managers are appointed by elected county boards and their levies are capped; the 2007 audit and the 2015 restructuring show legislatures examining and changing their agencies.[^77][^78][^87][^26] The 3M agreement admits no liability and directs the money first to drinking water.[^92][^74] The 2020 suit is a consumer-deception case that the Eighth Circuit sent back to state court, that the Supreme Court declined to review, and that Minnesota's courts declined to dismiss; the federal suit is a preemption claim brought under a presidential directive, on which no court has ruled in the records read.[^40][^43][^45][^15][^12] **What both readings foreclose.** Both rest on the same session laws, statutes, constitutional text, audit and court papers. Neither is supported by the claims that the federal complaint challenges the helium framework or any Minnesota statute, that the 2024 royalty reaches all helium produced in the State, that the Legacy Amendment assigns its money to councils, or that the Prairie Island payment has been $500,000 a cask every year since 1999.[^4][^22][^76][^25][^60] ## Timeline | Date | Instrument | |---|---| | 1941 | Office of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation created, Laws 1941, ch. 544 (Stassen, R)[^23][^9] | | 1955 | Watershed Law allows petitions to establish watershed districts[^80] | | 1964 | Taconite Amendment adopted, 1,272,590 to 204,133 (proposed by Laws 1963, ch. 99)[^7] | | 1967 | Pollution Control Agency and its Citizens' Board created, Laws 1967, ch. 882 (LeVander, R)[^64][^26][^9] | | 1982 | Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act[^80] | | November 4, 1989 | Taconite Amendment's bar on changing the 1963 tax law expires[^66] | | 1990 | Watershed district law in chapter 103D, Laws 1990, ch. 391[^81] | | May 10, 1994 | Prairie Island dry cask storage authorized; $500,000 per cask from 1999 (Carlson, IR)[^24][^58] | | May 29, 2003 | Cask transfer replaced by $16 million a year; rate recovery for the tribal settlement (Pawlenty, R)[^25][^59] | | January 2007 | Legislative Auditor's *Watershed Management* evaluation[^87] | | May 22, 2007 | Settlement agreement and consent order between the MPCA and 3M[^52] | | November 4, 2008 | Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment adopted[^79][^8] | | 2010 | Attorney General sues 3M, Hennepin County No. 27-CV-10-28862[^51][^93] | | 2011 | Helium discovered by accident in Lake County[^69] | | 2015 | MPCA Citizens' Board eliminated, Laws 2015, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 4 (Dayton, DFL)[^26][^9] | | February 20, 2018 | 3M agreement: $850 million grant, no admission of liability[^74][^92] | | June 24, 2020 | *Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute* filed in Ramsey County[^13] | | February 7, 2023 | Carbon-free standard, Laws 2023, ch. 7 (Walz, DFL)[^27] | | March 23, 2023 | Eighth Circuit affirms remand to state court[^40] | | January 8, 2024 | Supreme Court denies review of the remand[^43] | | May 21, 2024 | Gas and oil permit requirement, moratorium, leasing and royalty floor, Laws 2024, ch. 116, art. 3 (Walz)[^28][^22] | | February 2025 | State district court denies most motions to dismiss[^42] | | April 8, 2025 | Executive Order 14260[^15] | | June 2025 | State district court stays proceedings pending appeals[^31] | | January 2026 | Minnesota Court of Appeals affirms denial of dismissal[^44] | | April 15, 2026 | Minnesota Supreme Court denies review[^45][^31] | | April 20, 2026 | Court of Appeals enters judgment[^31] | | May 4, 2026 | Stay dissolves; United States files No. 0:26-cv-02456[^31][^32] | | May 18, 2026 | Iowa and 22 other states propose an amicus brief supporting a preliminary injunction[^12] | | May 2026 | Helium-specific gas well law for Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, as reported (Walz)[^65] | | May 29, 2026 | State and Attorney General move to dismiss the federal suit[^12] | ## Corpus claims checked The corpus for this regime consists of the regime stub, the *Ten Regimes, One Machine* essays, the files in the regime's folder and the README and killshot files on which the series draws.[^1][^3][^2][^30] Each claim is set beside what the record read for this portal shows. | Claim in the corpus | What the record shows | Sources | |---|---|---| | The 2024 law imposes an 18.75 percent royalty on the sale price of any helium produced | The royalty is a floor in a state lease, "not less than 18.75 percent of the gross sales price" of gas or oil from leased state land; the 2024 law sets no royalty on gas from private mineral rights, and the DNR reports no active state gas lease | [^30][^22][^6][^71] | | The 2024 law froze production until a tax structure existed | The moratorium runs until rules are adopted under § 93.514, unless the Legislature approves a temporary permit framework; taxation was one of several topics assigned to the advisory committee | [^30][^21][^70] | | The Lake County deposit carries a helium-3 value of about one trillion dollars | No official source read states such a value; the corpus's own README finds that the figure fails against published volumes and treats it as a ceiling claim | [^94] | | The federal suit and the helium framework are two fronts of one apparatus | The complaint does not mention helium, seeks no declaration against any Minnesota statute and disclaims any challenge to standards for in-state operations; the README concedes that the connection is not pleaded | [^4][^5][^20] | | The state-court sequence: review denied April 15, judgment April 20, stay dissolved and federal suit filed May 4, 2026 | Confirmed by the complaint and the Attorney General's April 17 release; the Court of Appeals' decision came in January 2026 | [^2][^31][^45][^44] | | Prairie Island has paid $500,000 per cask per year since 1999 | The 1994 act set that amount from 1999; the 2003 act replaced it with $16 million a year while the plant operates; the current text, from January 15, 2018, again counts casks, reduces the total by $3,750,000 and adds $350,000 per Monticello cask | [^3][^24][^25][^60] | | The 1964 Taconite Amendment was a constitutional tax immunity | It barred repeal or amendment of the 1963 taconite tax law until November 4, 1989, by a vote of 1,272,590 to 204,133, and lapsed on its own terms | [^3][^66][^7] | | The Legacy Amendment routes a sales tax to appointed councils | The amendment dedicates three-eighths of one percent of the sales tax to four funds through 2034 and requires that the money be appropriated by law; it names no council | [^3][^79][^76] | | The 1941 Iron Range agency joined a dedicated fund to an appointed board | Under § 298.22 the commissioner is the governor's appointee; the board consists of legislators from taconite districts and one senator appointed by the Senate, and reviews every expenditure and project | [^3][^23] | | The 3M settlement paid $850 million for chemistry the State had long permitted | The $850 million grant is confirmed; the agreement calls the State's claims disputed, admits no liability and directs the money first to drinking water; the permitting history was not examined for this portal | [^3][^74][^92] | | The DNR estimates about one million dollars a day of helium at the deposit | Not found in the records read; the House's report on the 2024 bill gives a figure of $11 million a day for one parcel's potential value to an extractor; neither is an audited estimate | [^95][^72] | | A 1998 tobacco settlement of $6.1 billion belongs to the same structure | Not examined; no record of the settlement was read for this portal | [^3] | ## Other portals The ten At Issue regimes each have a portal; the others are [[Portal - Affirmative Action Regime]] · [[Portal - Community Action Programs Regime]] · [[Portal - Feminism Regime]] · [[Portal - Metropolitan Council Regime]] · [[Portal - New Minnesotans Regime]] · [[Portal - One Minnesota Regime]] · [[Portal - PELRA Regime]] · [[Portal - Professional Association Regime]] · [[Portal - University of Minnesota Regime]]. The Affirmative Action and Feminism portals treat the two other suits the United States brought in 2026: against the State under Title VII, and against the Department of Education and the State High School League under Title IX.[^96][^97] ## See also - [[How Minnesota Got Here]] · [[Office of the Legislative Auditor (Minnesota)]] · [[Minnesota Pollution Control Agency citizen board]] - [[Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant]] · [[Public Utilities Commission]] · [[Lake County, Minnesota]] · [[Ramsey County, Minnesota]] - [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]] · [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] · [[Minnesota Court of Appeals]] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota record, *Climate Regime* node stub (Actions At Issue Arguments, Regimes; created July 15, 2026; status stub) — an argued regime described as a two-gas climate toll booth, pairing the State's suit against the American Petroleum Institute with a helium royalty; cross-references Keith Ellison, Tim Walz, the federal suit and Theory T13; no statute listed. [^2]: Minnesota record, Climate Regime folder, *AT ISSUE — United States v. Minnesota & Ellison* README (compiled June 11, 2026), with the complaint PDF — summary of the five counts, the stay chronology and ¶ 99; a helium timeline; an audit of a one-trillion-dollar helium-3 figure; guardrails stating that the complaint never mentions helium. [^3]: Minnesota record, *Ten Regimes, One Machine* (Regime Essays no. 1, 5,000-word steelman, June 2026), section X, The Toll Booth — a toll-and-immunity architecture traced from 1849 land grants through the IRRRB, the 1964 Taconite Amendment, Prairie Island casks, a 1998 tobacco settlement, the Legacy Amendment and the 3M settlement to the helium framework. [^4]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), prayer for relief and signature block — a declaration that the Ramsey County suit is unconstitutional and unlawful; preliminary and permanent injunctions against pursuing it; costs; signed by the U.S. Attorney, the Associate Attorney General and Environment Division counsel. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^5]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), Count IV, ¶¶ 91–99 — foreign-affairs preemption; the President's powers over foreign affairs; the January 2026 memorandum on the Framework Convention; and ¶ 99's disclaimer of any challenge to local regulation such as standards for in-state operations. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^6]: Minn. Stat. § 93.516 (2025), gas and oil leasing — with Executive Council approval the commissioner may lease state lands, or lands in which the state has an interest, for gas or oil exploration and production; noble gases including helium are covered; lease terms, rentals and a production royalty on gas sold. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/93.516 [^7]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Constitutional Amendments*, 1964 entry — purpose: to prevent amendment or repeal of taconite tax policies for 25 years and allow limits on copper and nickel taxation; adopted with 1,272,590 yes and 204,133 no of 1,586,173 ballots; proposed by Laws 1963, ch. 99. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/mngov/constitutionalamendments [^8]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Constitutional Amendments*, 2008 entry — purpose: to protect natural resources and preserve Minnesota's arts and cultural heritage; adopted with 1,635,046 yes and 1,141,540 no of 2,920,214 ballots; proposed by Laws 2008, ch. 151. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/mngov/constitutionalamendments [^9]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Minnesota Governors* — governors with the date each assumed office and party: Harold Stassen, Republican, 1939; Harold LeVander, Republican, 1967; Rudy Perpich, DFL, 1983; Arne Carlson, Independent-Republican, 1991; Tim Pawlenty, Republican, 2003; Mark Dayton, DFL, 2011; Tim Walz, DFL, 2019. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/mngov/gov.aspx [^10]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), Count I, ¶¶ 61–69 — federal preclusion under the Constitution because interstate and global pollution is a uniquely federal subject; the United States' sovereign, proprietary and parens patriae interests in national energy markets. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^11]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), Count V, ¶¶ 100–109 — the Commerce Clause: the allegation that the State's suit discriminates against interstate commerce and exerts extraterritorial control over commerce outside the State, so that strict scrutiny applies. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^12]: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Climate Litigation Database, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 26-cv-2456 (D. Minn.), docket summary (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — amicus brief of Iowa and 22 other states (May 18, 2026), order granting leave (May 21), and the State's motion to dismiss with memorandum (May 29, 2026). https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/united-states-v-minnesota_bb46 [^13]: Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, press release (June 24, 2020) — the Attorney General's suit filed that morning in Ramsey County against ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and three Koch Industries entities; claims of fraud, failure to warn, consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising; injunction, restitution and a corrective public education campaign sought. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2020/06/24_ExxonKochAPI.asp [^14]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 23–28 — the State's suit of June 24, 2020; the six defendants and their places of incorporation and business; the five state-law claims; and the relief described by the Eighth Circuit, including disgorgement of profits. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^15]: The White House, Executive Order 14260, *Protecting American Energy From State Overreach* (April 8, 2025) — section 3(c): the order does not "create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law"; section 2 directs the Attorney General to identify state laws and causes of action burdening domestic energy, giving priority to those addressing climate change or greenhouse gas emissions, and to take action to stop them; a 60-day report. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-energy-from-state-overreach/ [^17]: Laws of Minnesota 2024, ch. 116, signed May 21, 2024, art. 3 — sec. 23 (§ 93.513), no gas or oil production without a DNR permit and a moratorium until rules are adopted; sec. 24 (§ 93.514), rulemaking; sec. 25 (§ 93.516), state gas and oil leasing with a royalty floor; sec. 55, a technical advisory committee. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2024/0/116/ [^18]: Constitution of the State of Minnesota, as published by the Revisor of Statutes — article X, section 6, taconite taxation, barring repeal or amendment of the 1963 taconite tax law until November 4, 1989; article XI, section 15, the 2008 dedication of three-eighths of one percent of the sales tax to four funds through 2034. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/ [^19]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶ 22 — quotations from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's state profile: no fossil fuel reserves or production, no operating coal mines, significant renewable resources, and consumption of about four times the energy the State produces. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^20]: Minnesota record, Climate Regime folder, At Issue README (June 11, 2026), section VII, guardrails — no mention of helium, minerals or mining in the complaint (39 pages as posted; the README says 40); the two fronts connect by apparatus and posture, not pleading; the royalty's scope to be pinned against the session law before use. [^21]: Minn. Stat. § 93.513 (2025), prohibition on production of gas or oil without permit — subdivision 1 requires a DNR permit and defines gas to include nonhydrocarbon gases; subdivision 2 bars permits until rules are adopted under § 93.514 unless the legislature approves a temporary permit framework; history 2024 c 116 art 3 s 23. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/93.513 [^22]: Laws of Minnesota 2024, ch. 116, art. 3, sec. 25 (new § 93.516) — state gas and oil leasing with Executive Council approval; noble gases defined to include helium; a production royalty on gas or oil sold of not less than 18.75 percent of the gross sales price, credited under § 93.22. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2024/0/116/ [^23]: Minn. Stat. § 298.22 (2025), Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation — subdivision 1 creates the department as an executive-branch agency under a governor-appointed commissioner; subdivision 1a's advisory board of legislators from taconite assistance areas, to which every expenditure and project is first submitted; history beginning 1941 c 544. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/298.22 [^24]: Laws of Minnesota 1994, ch. 641, art. 1, sec. 10 (§ 116C.779) — the operator of the Prairie Island plant to transfer $500,000 a year for each dry cask holding spent fuel after January 1, 1999 to a renewable development account, spent only on developing renewable energy sources. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1994/0/641/ [^25]: Laws of Minnesota 2003, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 11 (H.F. 9), presented May 27 and signed May 29, 2003 — amends § 116C.779 to replace the per-cask transfer with $16 million a year while the Prairie Island plant operates; rate recovery for a settlement with the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Council paying up to $2.5 million a year. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2003/1/11/ [^26]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, agency record, *MPCA Citizens' Board*, history — elimination by Laws 2015, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 4, art. 4, secs. 114–117, attributed in part by news reports to lobbying by large agricultural groups; Executive Order 15-15's advisory committee; 2023 bills H.F. 2076 and S.F. 1937. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/agencies/detail?AgencyID=2523 [^27]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 7 (H.F. 7), an act relating to energy, presented to and signed by the governor Feb. 7, 2023 — adds § 216B.1691, subd. 2g, the carbon-free standard: 80 percent of retail sales for public utilities and 60 percent for others by 2030, 90 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2040. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/7/ [^28]: Laws of Minnesota 2024, ch. 116, the omnibus environment and natural resources act, presented to the governor May 19 and signed May 21, 2024; its title lists gas and oil exploration and production leases and permits on state-owned land among nine articles, from appropriations to state lands. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2024/0/116/ [^29]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Legislative Party Control Chart, 1901–present* — House, Senate and governor by session: 1941, Conservative House and Senate with a Republican governor; 1993–1994, DFL House and Senate with a Republican governor; 2003–2004, Republican House and DFL Senate; 2015–2016, Republican House, DFL Senate and governor; 2023–2024, DFL throughout. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/histleg/caucus_table [^30]: Minnesota record, Climate Regime folder, *Toll Booth Killshots — Minnesota's Climate Regime* (Toll-and-Immunity-Architecture, file 11) — numbered single-sentence claims with listed sources, including an 18.75 percent royalty on any helium produced, a moratorium tied to a tax structure, carbon dioxide sale rights and Prairie Island cask payments since 1999. [^31]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 38–44 — the April 2025 motion to stay; the June 2025 stay until fourteen days after final disposition of the appeals; the April 15, 2026 denial of review; the April 20 judgment; the May 4 dissolution and the same-day federal filing. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *Justice Department Files Complaint Against Minnesota Over Its Attempt to Override Federal Law* (May 4, 2026) — the complaint's filing in the District of Minnesota under the executive order on state overreach; statements of the Associate Attorney General and the Environment and Natural Resources Division. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-complaint-against-minnesota-over-its-attempt-override-federal-law [^33]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 19–21, parties — the United States suing for itself and its citizens; the State of Minnesota; and the Attorney General, described as responsible for the Ramsey County case and sued in his official capacity only. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^34]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), Count II, ¶¶ 70–80 — federal preclusion for extraterritorial regulation, relying on the Constitution's horizontal limits on state authority; at ¶ 80, conflict with states such as Iowa that limit greenhouse-gas liability. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^35]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), Count III, ¶¶ 81–90 — preemption under the Clean Air Act, which the Environmental Protection Agency administers, on the ground that the State's suit seeks to regulate out-of-state emissions the Act governs; the risk of similar suits by other states. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^36]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 51–60 — the United States' interests in global energy policy; greenhouse gases as an international problem; and the President's January 2026 memorandum on leaving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, effective in 2027. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^37]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 1–10, introduction — the Stras concurrence's description of a clash over regulating worldwide emissions; an Iowa statute limiting greenhouse-gas liability as evidence of conflict among states; the Clean Air Act and foreign-affairs theories; Executive Order 14260; preliminary relief to be sought. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^38]: MPR News, *Minnesota sues oil companies, institute over climate change* (June 24, 2020) — the suit filed in Ramsey County District Court alleging consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices; unspecified restitution, a corrective public education campaign and an injunction sought; the Attorney General's statement at a news conference; at least fifteen similar suits elsewhere. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/24/minnesota-sues-oil-companies-institute-over-climate-change [^40]: *Minnesota ex rel. Ellison v. American Petroleum Institute*, No. 21-1752 (8th Cir. filed Mar. 23, 2023), opinion of Judge Kobes for a panel of Grasz, Stras and Kobes — affirming the district court's remand of the State's suit to state court; Judge Stras concurring that the suit seeks a global remedy and should arise under federal law. https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/03/211752P.pdf [^41]: *Minnesota ex rel. Ellison v. American Petroleum Institute*, No. 21-1752 (8th Cir. Mar. 23, 2023), Stras, J., concurring — agreeing that under current law the suit does not arise under federal law, but writing that it should because the State seeks a global remedy for a global issue through state-law claims. https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/03/211752P.pdf [^42]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 29–37 — removal in July 2020; the March 2021 remand; the Eighth Circuit's 2023 affirmance; the June 2024 motions to dismiss on preemption, anti-SLAPP and jurisdiction grounds; the February 2025 denial of most motions; the March 2025 appeals. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^43]: Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, press release (Jan. 8, 2024) — the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, denied the defendants' petition to review the Eighth Circuit's remand ruling, so that the State's 2020 climate-deception suit against ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and three Koch Industries entities may proceed in state court. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2024/01/08_ExxonKochAPI.asp [^44]: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Climate Litigation Database, *State v. American Petroleum Institute*, Ramsey County No. 62-CV-20-3837 and appeals A25-0407, A25-0408 and A25-0410 (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — the Minnesota Supreme Court's April 15, 2026 denial of review of the Court of Appeals' January 2026 decision affirming denial of the motions to dismiss. https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/state-v-american-petroleum-institute_b3beb3 [^45]: Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, press release (Apr. 17, 2026) — on April 15 the Minnesota Supreme Court denied the petition for review of ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute after the District Court and Court of Appeals declined to dismiss; the Attorney General's statement that the case would proceed to discovery and trial. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2026/04/17_ExxonKochAPI.asp [^47]: The White House, Executive Order 14260 (April 8, 2025), section 2(a) — the Attorney General, with appropriate agencies, to identify state and local laws, regulations, causes of action, policies and practices burdening domestic energy that are or may be unconstitutional, preempted or unenforceable, with priority to climate-related measures. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-energy-from-state-overreach/ [^48]: The White House, Executive Order 14260 (April 8, 2025), section 2(b)–(c) — the Attorney General to take all appropriate action to stop enforcement of state laws and continuation of civil actions identified under section 2(a) as illegal, and to report to the President within 60 days, with recommendations for further action. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-energy-from-state-overreach/ [^49]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-02456 (D. Minn. May 4, 2026), ¶¶ 45–50 — the growth of state climate suits since 2020; Executive Order 14260 and its direction to the Attorney General; consistent federal directives; and the United States' 2025 suits against New York, Vermont, Hawaii and Michigan. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl?inline [^51]: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources, *3M PFAS Settlement* (program site) — settlement of February 20, 2018 for $850 million; the Attorney General's 2010 suit over PFAS damage to drinking water and natural resources; about $720 million for east-metro projects; the two agencies as co-trustees; drinking water and natural resources as priorities. https://3msettlement.state.mn.us/ [^52]: Agreement and Order, *State of Minnesota v. 3M Company*, No. 27-CV-10-28862 (Hennepin Cty. Dist. Ct. Feb. 20, 2018), definitions — the State as its Attorney General, the MPCA and the DNR; the 2007 settlement agreement and consent order between the MPCA and 3M; a working group including 3M. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Cases/3M/docs/Agreement.pdf [^53]: Laws of Minnesota 1994, ch. 641 (S.F. 1706), presented May 6 and signed May 10, 1994 — legislative authorization of dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel at Prairie Island; a 17-cask ceiling; a wind-power requirement; and new § 116C.779, a $500,000 annual transfer per cask after January 1, 1999 to a renewable development account. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1994/0/641/ [^54]: Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691 (2025), renewable energy objectives and the carbon-free standard — subdivision 2g's schedule for each electric utility's carbon-free electricity, the solar standard, utility reporting to the Public Utilities Commission and the commission's enforcement; history from 2001 through the 2023 amendments. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/216B.1691 [^55]: Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691 (2025), subds. 3 and 7 — each electric utility's report to the Public Utilities Commission on its plans, activities and progress toward the standards, and the commission's authority to order compliance; the definitions of eligible and carbon-free technologies in subdivision 1. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/216B.1691 [^56]: Wikipedia contributors, *Xcel Energy* (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — a regulated electric and gas utility based in Minneapolis with four operating subsidiaries; owner and operator of the Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants, with spent fuel stored on site; its December 2018 goal of carbon-free electricity by 2050. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcel_Energy [^57]: Laws of Minnesota 1994, ch. 641, art. 1, sec. 1 (§ 116C.77) — legislative ratification of the environmental impact statement found adequate in 1991 and the limited certificate of need, and authorization of casks at Prairie Island without further environmental or administrative review. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1994/0/641/ [^58]: Laws of Minnesota 1994, ch. 641, art. 1, sec. 2 (§ 116C.771) — five casks may be filled at once and four more on conditions; storage, including any added capacity, may not exceed the total capacity of 17 TN-40 casks. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1994/0/641/ [^59]: Laws of Minnesota 2003, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 11, art. 1, sec. 3 (§ 216B.1645, subd. 4) — the commission to approve rate recovery of a settlement with the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Council at Prairie Island providing annual payments of up to $2.5 million, including for land to be held in trust. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2003/1/11/ [^60]: Minn. Stat. § 116C.779 (2025), funding for renewable development — the renewable development account in the state treasury since 2017; from January 15, 2018, $500,000 a year for each Prairie Island dry cask, reduced in total by $3,750,000, and $350,000 for each Monticello cask; history from 1994 through 2024. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/116C.779 [^62]: Wikipedia contributors, *Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant* (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — a two-reactor plant at Red Wing on the Mississippi River, adjacent to the Prairie Island Indian Community reservation, operating since 1973; the utility's 1991 request for 48 dry casks and the Legislature's limit of 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Island_Nuclear_Power_Plant [^63]: Minn. Stat. § 116.02 (2025), Pollution Control Agency; creation and powers — subdivision 1 creates the agency; subdivision 5 makes it successor to the Water Pollution Control Commission; subdivisions 2–4 and 6–10 repealed in 2015, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 4; history beginning 1967 c 882. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/116.02 [^64]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, agency record, *Pollution Control Agency* — active from 1967 under Laws 1967, ch. 882, and § 116.02; created to replace the Water Pollution Control Commission; authority over water, air and noise pollution and solid waste disposal; its rules in chapters 4760, 7000–7190 and 9210–9400. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/agencies/detail?AgencyID=1279 [^65]: Molly Burgess, *New Minnesota law clears path for helium projects*, gasworld (May 28, 2026) — trade-press report that the governor signed legislation on permitting gas wells, limited to helium projects in Cook, Lake and St. Louis counties, banning oil wells and hydraulic fracturing and allowing sale of carbon dioxide captured in helium production. https://www.gasworld.com/story/new-minnesota-law-clears-path-for-helium-projects/2250659.article/ [^66]: Minnesota Constitution, article X, section 6, taconite taxation, as published by the Revisor — Laws 1963, ch. 81, not to be repealed, modified or amended until November 4, 1989; copper and nickel taxes may be fixed until 1990; taxes in lieu of property taxes not occupation, royalty or excise taxes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/ [^67]: Wikipedia contributors, *Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board* (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — an economic development agency founded in 1941 to use proceeds from taconite mining for wider development of the Iron Range; production taxes paid in place of property taxes; a governor-appointed commissioner; a 2024 budget of $67.8 million. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Range_Resources_and_Rehabilitation_Board [^69]: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, *Regulatory framework* (Gas Program) — no history of gas production in the state; helium discovered by accident in Lake County in 2011; confirmation drilling in 2024; the May 2024 permit requirement and expedited rulemaking; the multi-agency advisory committee; the notice of intent to adopt rules due by May 22, 2026. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/gas_program/regulatory_framework.html [^70]: Laws of Minnesota 2024, ch. 116, art. 3, sec. 55 — the Minnesota Gas and Oil Resources Technical Advisory Committee, with members the commissioner may draw from the MPCA, the Environmental Quality Board, Health, Revenue, the Attorney General's office, the University and federal agencies; recommendations on a temporary framework, including taxation, due January 15, 2025. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2024/0/116/ [^71]: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, *Gas lease program* — the enabling legislation's authority to lease state lands for gas or oil, with gas including nonhydrocarbon gases; private exploration focused on helium and natural hydrogen; case-by-case lease terms; Executive Council approval of every lease; no active state gas leases. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/gas_program/gas_lease.html [^72]: Minnesota House of Representatives, Session Daily, *Northern MN helium discovery prompts proposed regulatory framework for gas, oil production* (Apr. 24, 2024) — committee approval of H.F. 5350 by voice vote; its sponsor's description of a royalty structure on state lands; a figure for one parcel's potential value to an extractor. https://www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18329 [^74]: Agreement and Order, *State of Minnesota v. 3M Company*, No. 27-CV-10-28862, paragraphs 13–14 — a grant of $850 million held in the 3M Grant for Water Quality and Sustainability Fund; drinking water in named east-metro cities and townships as the first and highest priority for the MPCA and DNR. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Cases/3M/docs/Agreement.pdf [^75]: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources, *3M Settlement annual report and spending plan for fiscal year 2023* (Report to the Legislature, October 2023) — the legislative charge under § 115B.52; the 2018 settlement and the 2010 suit; about $720 million remaining after legal and other expenses; the two agencies as co-trustees. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2023/mandated/231546.pdf [^76]: Minnesota Constitution, article XI, section 15, closing provisions — dedicated money to be appropriated by law; to supplement and not substitute for traditional funding; outdoor heritage land open to fishing and hunting in season unless law provides otherwise; proportional adjustment if the tax base changes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/ [^77]: Minn. Stat. § 103D.311 (2025), watershed district managers — residency qualifications and exclusion of most public officers; appointment of successor managers by the county commissioners of each county responsible for appointing a manager; history from 1990 c 391 through 2024 c 90. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103D.311 [^78]: Minn. Stat. § 103D.905 (2025), funds of a watershed district — the general fund's ad valorem levy capped at 0.096 percent of estimated market value or $500,000, whichever is less; an added levy for petitioned projects; bond and other funds; history 1990 c 391 through 2025 c 20. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103D.905 [^79]: Minnesota Constitution, article XI, section 15, as published by the Revisor — from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2034, a sales tax increase of three-eighths of one percent dedicated 33, 33, 14.25 and 19.75 percent to outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, and arts funds; adopted November 4, 2008. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/ [^80]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), chapter 1 — the 1955 Watershed Law allowing petitions to establish districts; the 1982 Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act; the 1985 Comprehensive Local Water Management Act; districts and metropolitan organizations managing water in about 30 percent of the State. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^81]: Minn. Stat. § 103D.201 (2025), watershed district purposes — the establishment of watershed districts is authorized to conserve natural resources through land use planning and flood control; the specific purposes, including flood control to promote climate resilience, as amended in 2024; history 1990 c 391 and 2024 c 90. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103D.201 [^82]: Minn. Stat. § 103D.101 (2025), powers of the Board of Water and Soil Resources over watershed districts — after an establishment petition the board may establish a district, define its boundaries and appoint its first managers; investigative and hearing powers; history 1990 c 391 and 1995 c 199. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103D.101 [^84]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), chapter 1, water management entities — 46 watershed districts, created by the Board of Water and Soil Resources on petition, run by managers the county commissioners appoint, as independent multi-county authorities with taxing and rulemaking powers. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^85]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, Program Evaluation Division, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), copy held by the Legislative Reference Library — finds mixed local performance and inadequate oversight by the Board of Water and Soil Resources; recounts the 1955 Watershed Law and the 1982 metropolitan act; recommends restructuring the board. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^86]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), summary of major findings — at least 14 federal and state agencies and 11 types of local entities; mixed local performance; inadequate state oversight, reflecting the board's limited authority and its reluctance to use what it had. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^87]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), transmittal letter to the Legislative Audit Commission — some local water entities have struggled; the Board of Water and Soil Resources has not adequately held them accountable; recommendation to restructure the board and strengthen its authority. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^88]: Office of the Legislative Auditor, *Watershed Management* (January 2007), appendix A, case studies — Minnehaha Creek, Sauk River with the Stearns soil and water district, Bassett Creek, South Two River, Upper Rum River, Comfort Lake–Forest Lake and the Hennepin Conservation District. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2007/other/070122.pdf [^89]: Mark Steil, *Legislative auditor blasts management of watersheds*, MPR News (Jan. 26, 2007) — report on the Legislative Auditor's evaluation and a House committee hearing; the South Two River Watershed District and the Hennepin Conservation District as examples; comment by a DFL member of the House environment committee. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/01/26/bwsrreport [^91]: Wikipedia contributors, *Xcel Energy*, section on controversies (retrieved Oct. 29, 2026) — the company's March 16, 2023 announcement of an unplanned release of radioactive water at Monticello on November 21, 2022, reported earlier to state and federal authorities; an estimated 400,000 gallons containing tritium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xcel_Energy [^92]: Agreement and Order, *State of Minnesota v. 3M Company*, No. 27-CV-10-28862, paragraph 21 — executed solely to settle the State's disputed claims; no admission of fault or liability by either party; no admission of responsibility for contamination associated with the Washington County Landfill; inadmissible in later proceedings. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Cases/3M/docs/Agreement.pdf [^93]: Agreement and Order, *State of Minnesota v. 3M Company*, No. 27-CV-10-28862 (Hennepin Cty. Dist. Ct., filed Feb. 20, 2018) — the State by its Attorney General and the commissioners of the MPCA and DNR; a grant of $850 million; drinking water in the East Metropolitan Area as first priority; a working group including 3M; no admission of liability. https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Cases/3M/docs/Agreement.pdf [^94]: Minnesota record, Climate Regime folder, At Issue README (June 11, 2026), section IV, valuation table — the one-trillion-dollar helium-3 figure from a project booklet audited against published volumes and described as a register ceiling claim rather than in-ground value; arithmetic on helium-4 and helium-3 scenarios. [^95]: Minnesota record, Climate Regime folder, At Issue README (June 11, 2026), sections II and VI — a helium timeline from 2011 to June 2026 and claim-link pairs, citing news reports for a DNR estimate of about one million dollars a day of helium and for the 18.75 percent royalty. [^96]: Complaint, *United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed Jan. 14, 2026), Doc. 1 — Title VII; ¶29 quoting § 43A.02, subd. 33; Count 1, ¶60, on justification and approval of hires outside the protected groups; Weber and Johnson discussed. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^97]: Complaint, *United States v. Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota State High School League*, No. 0:26-cv-02078 (D. Minn. filed Mar. 30, 2026), Doc. 1 — funding and assurances (¶¶29–35); § 121A.04 (¶¶73–75); Count I, Title IX; Count II, contractual assurances. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1433251/dl