As Minnesota emerges for the Great Recession, we must not let interest in growing jobs threaten our strong heritage of environmental protections. Efforts to “streamline” or reduce environmental protections must be held at bay. Minnesotans value our Great Outdoors heritage and we must remain vigilant in protecting our lakes, rivers, streams and wildlife habitat. Especially now that we are witnessing a new leadership in St. Paul, we cannot remove protections that have given Minnesota its great reputation for wonderful outdoors recreation, healthy living, productive workforce and rebounding economy. We must stay true to our strong environmental heritage and not put it at risk for any short-term gains in economic gain.
Minnesota has strong environmental protections in place. We must remain committed to those protections that make our state such a great place to live and work. The vast majority (70%) of Minnesotans do not want rollbacks of laws that protect our water, air and lands. They do not want disproportional or unfair cuts in funding to protect our environment. In fact, voters believe that we need greater enforcement of the environmental laws already on the books, and 22% say we need tougher environmental protections. We must remain true to our heritage and protect the resources under our stewardship. We must keep our focus on the long-term benefit for our state, not a short-term economic gain.