While differences between the House, Senate, and Governor over the state budget have increased thelikelihood of a special session, the Legacy bill relies on dedicated revenues and can still be passed by theend of the regular session on May 17—with or without a budget agreement. Dedicated funding toprotect and restore...
For the past ten years the possibility of a new type of mining in northeast Minnesota has consumed the energies of environmentalists, conservationists, businesses, agencies, and politicians at all levels of government. The debate about whether, where and how to permit the mining of precious metals from sulfide ore deposits,...
Under the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) proposed “Sustainable Timber Harvest Analysis” plan, the DNR intends to harvest trees from 90% of the land the Fisheries Section owns along trout and steelhead rivers in Lake County. This includes riparian forests along premier rivers such as the Split Rock, Beaver,...
What do the Whitewater, Vermillion, Straight and Sucker rivers all have in common besides being popular trout streams? They all suffer from one or more impairments caused by pollution or degradation. This week the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released its Draft 2020 Impaired Waters List identifying more than 500 additional stream...
The Environment & Natural Resources omnibus bill, SF2314, contains several provisions which, if adopted in the final bill version, would undermine basic groundwater protections and allow destruction of trout fisheries. The Senate version of SF 2314 has provisions (Sections 81, 82, 84 and 85) undermining intelligent groundwater management, which will lead...
A key meeting to consider nitrate-contaminated groundwater and trout streams in the karst region of southeast Minnesota (MN’s portion of the Driftless area) will be held Monday March 25, 2019 in Red Wing, MN beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) will hold a public meeting that...
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has denied a general permit to the proposed feedlot near Newburg and Wisel Creeks in Fillmore County. This temporary reprieve for the groundwater and trout streams in the vicinity is welcome news. Below is the announcement from MPCA. While denial of the general permit is...
The MN Legislature session ends in one week. It has been a strange session with few bills passed and instead a monster “omnibus omnibus” bill which plods forward. It contains environmental policy provisions. Since the Senate and House versions of this bill differ, the bill is in a conference committee...
Policy decisions by the Minnesota Legislature decide the health and persistence of coldwater fisheries around Minnesota and in Lake Superior. Speaking up for clean water and coldwater fisheries is vital to ensuing places for us, our children and our friends to enjoy quality trout, steelhead and salmon fishing in the...
We urgently need your calls to our U.S. Senators, Klobuchar and Smith, asking them to oppose the Coast Guard Authorization Act because it contains bad ballast water provisions that will increase the risk of new invasions of aquatic invasive species. The Senate will hold a vote on the Coast Guard...
