3 takeaways from environmental guardrails hearings at the Capitol
Putting environmental guardrails on an existing tax credit will help make sure new sustainable aviation fuels can actually be considered sustainable. (Photo via Canva)
The sustainable aviation fuel environmental guardrails legislation is in a good place as we enter the final weeks of the session.
The Taxes committees in both the House and Senate heard testimony on their respective bills this month, and in both cases moved it to the next stop (read more about the process below). The language hasn’t changed since our last update, and still includes five important measures that will help ensure Minnesota’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry can actually be considered sustainable by protecting water and habitat.
As FMR’s biofuels policy manager, I spoke at both hearings to offer our organization’s perspective. (You can watch replays here and here.) These hearings, along with the countless conversations with key players both before and after, have given us valuable insight into what decision-makers think about sustainable aviation fuel and its connection to clean water.
Here are three things we’ve learned this session.
There is real enthusiasm for winter-hardy oilseeds
Legislators are excited about the ways SAF can expand the market for continuous living cover crops like winter camelina.
SAF can be made from many different input materials, including wood waste, agricultural crops like corn and soy, and even new technologies like green hydrogen.
But what we heard over and over during the hearings was a recognition of the promise that winter camelina shows for SAF. Not only does winter camelina turn into low-carbon fuel, it also supports water quality, soil health, biodiversity and farm prosperity.
Shout-out to River Guardians!
Forty-nine advocates sent a message to their legislator on a Taxes committee, urging them to support environmental guardrails on sustainable aviation fuel. Want to help take action in the future? Sign up to be a River Guardian.
SAF policy needs to be careful and considered
FMR has long talked about the promise and peril we see in an expanding SAF industry in Minnesota.
If done well, a new SAF industry could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flying while also supporting a more sustainable agricultural system. If done poorly, the industry could double down on an agricultural system that leaves millions of acres bare and empty every year — to the detriment of our rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater systems.
We heard a similar sentiment from some lawmakers, including Rep. Andy Smith.
“I don’t think we can pretend that we live in a world that doesn’t have a checkered history when it comes to biofuels,” he said. “We need to enter this new market carefully.”
There is broad, bipartisan support for the guardrails
At both hearings I was joined by many other testifiers, including our partners at the Forever Green Initiative, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Fresh Energy, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Farmers Bureau Federation and more.
“If you ever would have told me that we’d have a list like this — from, you know, agriculture to the governor's office to the environmentalists — I would have said, can't can't be done,” noted Rep. Greg Davids, chair of the House Taxes Committee, in his closing remarks. “But it has been done.”
On both sides of the aisle, lawmakers acknowledged the importance of the strong environmental guardrails included in this session’s legislation. These guardrails — like limiting land use change and encouraging the lowest-carbon fuels — can nudge this emerging industry towards the most sustainable options and away from potentially damaging outcomes.
We’re cautiously optimistic about them being passed into law this year.
What comes next
From here, typically the House and Senate Taxes committees will send their bundle of bills (called an “omnibus bill”) through their respective finance committees and to the floor of each chamber to be debated and voted on. From there, any differences between the House and Senate versions would be hashed out in a conference committee made up of members of both chambers.
The session will wrap up by May 18, so these final steps should happen within the next few weeks. The floor vote will also be another opportunity for River Guardians — and anyone in the state worried about clean water — to weigh in.
If you want to help us pass these environmental guardrails, which will reduce pollution to the river and improve water quality, sign up to be a River Guardian. We’ll reach out soon with this important upcoming action opportunity.
Prior updates
Feb. 24, 2026: Help get environmental guardrails on SAF
Sustainable aviation fuel's impact on the Mississippi River watershed will be significant. Whether that impact is positive or negative will come down to the policy decisions state leaders make.
The 2026 legislative session is the first big opportunity of the year to push this industry in the right direction.
FMR is supporting a bill that would put much-needed environmental guardrails around an existing state tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel. As it's currently written, the state SAF tax credit requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but does not do enough to safeguard water quality, soil health and biodiversity by rewarding the most sustainable sources.
The state is actively positioning itself as a leader in SAF. If it wants to do so legitimately, lawmakers need to put rules in places that ensure SAF made in Minnesota is actually sustainable.
The 5 environmental guardrails: A closer look
- Scaling the tax credit to carbon intensity: The lower-carbon a feedstock is, the larger the tax credit becomes, which encourages the use of the lowest-carbon options. As the tax credit is currently constructed, all fuels receive the same credit as long as they reduce emissions by at least 50%. (So a 51% reduction and a 90% reduction are awarded with the same financial incentive.)
- Requiring domestic feedstocks: For SAF made from crops, those crops must be grown in the U.S. to qualify for the tax credit. This helps disincentivize converting natural lands (like the Amazon rainforest) into crop production to serve our SAF market.
- Preventing land use change: Only crops grown on longstanding farmland would be eligible. For example, someone who plows existing woods or prairie to create new cropland for SAF couldn't benefit from the tax credit.
- Prohibiting enhanced oil recovery: A SAF producer cannot claim the tax credit if carbon, captured during their process, is then used for enhanced oil recovery (oil extraction).
- Including green hydrogen: Expanding the definition of SAF will allow promising low-cabron technologies such as green hydrogen to qualify for the tax credit, when it's ready.
Since last session, we've been building support for these guardrails among a wide range of stakeholders and legislators. What we have now is a set of tax credit improvements with bipartisan support, and the backing of environmental groups, agriculture organizations and SAF industry decision-makers — all of whom recognize the promise of SAF if we do it right, and the peril to our waters and habitat if we get it wrong.
Help us pass these important guardrails
The House and Senate tax committees will take up the SAF environmental guardrails bill soon. We need these committees to support the current version of the bill so it has a chance to pass the full Legislature later in the session.
Use the form below to urge these policymakers to support these bipartisan environmental guardrails on SAF (HF 1669(link is external)/SF 1312(link is external)). (When you enter your address, the form will let you know if your representative is on the relevant tax committee.)
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