By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership On Tuesday, February 11, the Minnesota Legislature will begin its 2020 regular session, which is scheduled to run no later than May 18. The shorter, even-year session is traditionally a bonding year, in which the Legislature will consider funding capital investment projects across the state. With the need for… Read more »
photo credit: Andy Pearson, MN350 By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership Yesterday, dozens of Minnesotans gathered at the Minnesota Senate Building for a rare event – the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) directly took public comments on the Line 3 oil pipeline proposal. As we wrote last week, the PUC is considering whether to reissue the Line… Read more »
By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership This Friday, January 31, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will hold a public comment hearing on the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline replacement. This hearing will inform the PUC’s decision on whether to grant the oil pipeline a Certificate of Need and a Route Permit, both of which are required before the project… Read more »
Decision on PolyMet, bill to protect BWCAW are encouraging signs By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dealt a breakthrough victory to tribal and environmental advocates, reversing Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permits for the PolyMet mine. The Court determined that questions about PolyMet’s safety, finances, and ownership merited… Read more »
Public Advisor Minnesota Public Utilities Commission 121 7th Place East St. Paul, MN 55101 January 16, 2020 Regarding: PUC Docket Numbers: PL-9/CN-14-916 and PL-9/PPL-15-137 Thank you for taking comments on the Second Revised Final Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Line 3 Replacement Project. As member organizations of Minnesota Environmental Partnership, the undersigned groups write to… Read more »
By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership On Friday, Governor Tim Walz announced a proposal to leverage $300 million in state bonding dollars to upgrade and replace water infrastructure across Minnesota. This program, which would require passage by the Legislature in the coming session, would focus on helping Minnesota communities deal with the mounting costs of… Read more »
By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership – (@mattjdoll) On Tuesday, Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann ordered that a forensic search be conducted on the computers of former top Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) officials responsible for overseeing the PolyMet mine permit process. The search will involve the physical collection and investigation of those computers to find… Read more »
By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership – (@mattjdoll) This week, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced that for the first time, it had completed an assessment of all the watersheds in Minnesota, and released a draft list of lakes, streams, and rivers considered impaired, which increased in number by 581. This includes about half of all… Read more »
By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership – (@mattjdoll) This week marked the beginning of the end of the federal government’s participation in the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite the clear and present necessity of climate action, the non-binding terms of the pact, and the participation of every other UN member country, the Trump Administration argued that the agreement… Read more »
Unlike Great Lakes, inland waters have relatively few protections By Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership – (@mattjdoll) On Thursday, the Star Tribune reported that the company Progressive Rail has offered an unprecedented new proposal to transfer half a billion gallons of water each year from two wells in Dakota County to the Colorado River basin. This water would… Read more »