We are in our second week at the State Capitol and three bills that rollback protections for our air and water have already passed out of the Senate and House Environment committees. Community leaders testified in opposition, including the executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership. We’ll keep an eye on these bills. We expect to see more proposals like this.
But thanks to your help, we had a minor victory late last week! A bill was heard to weaken township and community rights by limiting local citizen input in large scale developments in their community. We were on alert. You contacted your legislators, community leaders testified, and legislators came to their senses. The bill was set aside.
But urgent action is still needed! There are over fifty bills that are on our watch list and some are moving quickly. The policies that have been introduced do not support Minnesotans’ desire to protect our lakes, rivers and streams, our drinking water, our air quality and our Great Outdoors heritage.
Instead of maintaining the laws that protect our water and our health, the legislature wants to weaken or roll back these protections! Our elected leaders must not move our state backwards on policies that protect our water, invest in clean energy and protect our health.