Political Notebook

Dayton meeting with lawmakers today about silica sand

Southeast Minnesota lawmakers are scheduled to meet with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton today to talk about silica sand mining.

Legislators in Senate District 21 and Senate District 28 were invited to attend. The governor is expected to discuss his position on the issue. Mining opponents have been pushing hard for a statewide Environmental Impact Statement to be done on silica sand mining and a moratorium be put in place. Red Wing Republican Rep. Tim Kelly has expressed support for such a study and possibly a temporary moratorium. Others, such as Mazeppa GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski, oppose a the idea of a study or any other additional state regulations on the industry. He said the state already has strong regulations in place to protect the environmental and public health.

Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, has said he plans to put forward a comprehensive bill shortly addressing the silica sand issue. He is still working out the details, but in the past he has indicated he is concerned a statewide EIS could end up taking too long. Rather, he has suggested working with state agencies to study some of the issues.

Drazkowski warns of 'extreme environmental advocates' pushing more regulation

In an email to constituents on Sunday, Rep. Steve Drazkowski warns of an effort by government officials and "extreme environmental advocates" to increase environmental regulations that will "undoubtedly include the killing of even more Minnesota jobs."

The Mazeppa Republican is critical of a report recently competed by the Environmental Quality Board that recommends beefing up the board's staffing and improving its transparency. Drazkowski notes in his email that legislation was introduced last session to eliminate the board because its usefulness "has been almost non-existent." He also warns that a series of Environmental Congress meetings around the state are simply a way to legitimize the board.

"As far as I can tell, the efforts by our state government to notify farmers and other business owners throughout the state, about these meetings, has been extremely limited. This may have been by design.  I encourage you to attend one or more of these sessions to represent common sense in the discussions.  Please notify your friends and neighbors in other parts of the state, as well," Drazkowski wrote.

The Rochester meeting is tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Wood Lake Meeting Center. It appears the Rochester Tea Party Patriots are also skeptical of these Environmental Congress meetings, writing in their weekly newsletter that "this will likely be a put up job with a predetermined outcome."

Ellen Anderson, senior adviser to the governor on energy and environment, said Drazkowski's assertion that notification about the meetings has been limited is "completely false." She said the board has sent out hundreds of email invitations to various stakeholders including farm groups, chambers of commerce, mining groups, environmental groups and energy groups — just to name a few.

 

 

 

 

Lawmakers reject proposal allowing logging in Whitewater, Frontenac

Members of the Minnesota House overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would open up Whitewater and Frontenac state parks to logging.

Lawmakers voted 106 to 22 in favor of stripping the language that would allow the logging out of an environment budget bill. Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, proposed the language, which requires the commissioner of natural resources to assess the black walnut and other timber resources in the two state parks and harvest the trees that are suitable. The proceeds from the logging would go to the state.

Environmental groups launched a big push against the proposal arguing it would cause lasting harm to the state parks. The environment budget bill's author, GOP Rep. Denny McNamara of Hastings, sponsored the amendment to take out the logging language.

Drazkowski, whose district includes Whitewater State Park, urged his fellow lawmakers to support logging in the state parks.

"This is another area of state government where an asset of the government is actually rotting and going to waste. This is what Minnesotans are tired of. They are tired of the waste, fraud and abuse in government."

Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, whose district includes Frontenac State Park, also supports allowing for logging in those state parks.

But several lawmakers, both DFL and GOP, voiced concerns about the proposal. Rep. Lyndon Carlson, R-Crystal, said he used to teach in St. Charles and spent a lot of time at Whitewater State Park.

"That’s a valley that is very sensitive and it is very sensitive to things like flooding and it is also a valley with a lot of history, and I would be very concerned if that was opened up for logging or cutting," Carlson said.

Here's how southeast Minnesota lawmakers voted on the amendment to strip out the logging language. Voting yes were: Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester; Rep. Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea; Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester, Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona and Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin. Voting no were: Rep. Mike Benson, R-Rochester; Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston; Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa; Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing; and Rep. Duane Quam, R-Byron.

Dayton issues order to speed up environmental permitting

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton announced today he is signing an executive order aimed at speeding up the environmental permitting process in the state. In a nutshell, the order requires both the Pollution Control Agency and the Department of Natural Resources to decide within 150 days whether to issue an environmental or natural resources permit. Right now, the PCA is averaging 180 days.

The order also requires the commissioners to set a goal for their agencies to decide within 30 days after an environmental impact statement is finally approved  whether to issue the permit. The PCA commissioner will also be required to report to the governor within 60 days any recommendations for making Minnesota rules more consistent with federal regulations so that, under certain conditions, construction could begin before a water discharge permit is issued. The PCAs commissioner would also be required to explain the logic behind any air quality or hazardous waste or water quality standards that are more stringent than the federal standards.

Dayton said he believes these changes can be made without hurting the environment.

"I've viewed this as an opportunity to support both sound economic growth and create additional jobs and protect the environment," he said.

The executive order implements several proposals in bills introduced by the Republican-led Legislature. Dayton said he moved ahead with all the items he could do by executive order. That leaves two other GOP proposals. The first would eliminate district court review of environmental review decisions and send all appeals directly to the Court of Appeals. The second would allow a project proposer the option to prepare the draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Dayton said he does not have a position on those two proposals at this time but is open to studying them.