These resolutions have been crafted by MEP member groups and other allies. Our goal is to submit them in as many places as possible at the 2022 precinct caucuses (or online, for districts using that option) on February 1st. If your precinct caucuses are virtual, you may be able to submit resolutions directly to your organizing unit convention without having to get approval from the neighbors in the precinct! Check with your organizing unit to find out if this applies to you.
You can submit these resolutions directly to your local party unit, or use them to craft your own. The more people who submit resolutions on a particular issue, the more likely they are to be included in the party’s platform.
Agriculture and Land Use
Soil-Healthy Farming
Land Stewardship Project
The [insert party name here] prioritizes establishing and deeply investing in a comprehensive soil health program to provide accessible, motivating grants and direct payments to farmers to establish and sustain soil-healthy practices; provide education, technical assistance, and research around soil-healthy practices to farmers; and set a statewide goal to reach 5.75 million acres of farmland in soil-healthy practices by 2030, 11.5 million acres by 2035, and 23 million acres by 2040.
Regional Food Systems Infrastructure
Land Stewardship Project
Be it resolved that the [insert party name here] prioritize building the
infrastructure needed by small- and mid-sized farms, rural, and urban
communities to create regional food systems that support regenerative
farming and provide all people with the nourishing foods they want and
need. This includes investment in small business development and
transitions, processing infrastructure and marketing of goods and
specialty crops that have environmental and economic benefits, and
small-scale meat processing, including certification and training.
Local Control & Animal Ag Consolidation
Land Stewardship Project
The [insert party name here] commits to holding large-scale animal
agricultural operations accountable for the pollution they create and
the environmental and community costs of their methods of
production. Additionally, the [insert party name here] commits to fight
any attempt to weaken Minnesota’s existing local control regulations
that have allowed our communities to have a say over their own
wellbeing.
Climate and Energy
No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
Mandate the calculation of climate impacts including external and social costs of carbon, for all new infrastructure projects; limit funding or deny permits for high impact projects and incentivize those with the lowest carbon footprint; remove existing fossil fuel-based infrastructure as quickly as possible.
100% Clean Energy by 2040
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
Support legislation that would require a transition of our state’s electricity sector to 100% Carbon-Free electricity by 2040 in a way that reduces racial, gender, & economic disparities.
Clean Transportation
Support development of sustainable public transportation, including mass transit, commuter rail, light rail, and buses, charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as viable options for pedestrians, bicycles, and other non-motorized transportation options.
Green New Deal
Support a Green New Deal to provide an equitable energy future in which all Minnesotans, especially in front-line and underserved communities, can reap the health and economic benefits of efficiency programs, renewable electricity, and clean energy jobs.
Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Support the continued divestment from fossil fuels funds by the Minnesota State Board of Investment to protect the pensions of Minnesota civil servants and educators from financial risk and to help move our economy to clean energy sources.
Electric Cooperative Oversight
Support legislative oversight of Minnesota’s member-owned electric cooperatives to improve transparency and ensure there is opportunity for input from members before key decisions are made that affect asset management, member payments, or climate
impacts
Pollinators
Reduce and Eliminate Pesticides
Support policies to reduce or eliminate the use of unsafe pesticides such as cancer-causing glyphosate and neonicotinoids, which harm pollinators, in agriculture, recreational land, and lawns.
Environment and Natural Resources
Prove It First
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Support a moratorium banning copper-nickel sulfide mining in Minnesota’s watersheds until it is proven first to be safe in water-rich environments for the protection of some of America’s greatest treasures including but not limited to Lake Superior, the BWCAW, Voyageurs National Park, and the Mississippi River.
Boundary Waters Protection
Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters
In order to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park, two of America’s great natural treasures, from pollution, impairment, and destruction, we support the U.S. Forest Service application for a 20-year mining ban on public lands in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs; legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 2794) and the Minnesota Legislature (HF 840 and SF 763) to permanently ban sulfide-ore copper mining in the Boundary Waters watershed; and revision of Minnesota’s nonferrous mining rules to ban sulfide-ore copper mining in the Boundary Waters watershed.
Waste Reduction and Recycling
Develop and deploy a comprehensive policy to make available and maximize the expected use life, facilitate efficient repair, reuse, and recycling of manufactured products. Minimize the use and maximize recycling of strategic materials. Promote widespread reduction, usage, or composting of food waste
No Rollbacks to Environmental Protections
Oppose any effort to circumvent or weaken state or federal environmental laws or protections involving administrative procedures and permitting.
End Mining Conflict of Interest
Support eliminating the conflict between mineral regulation and promotion in the Department of Natural Resources by reassigning responsibility for development and economic analysis of state minerals to the Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Water and Healthy Communities
Clean Water Infrastructure
Support upgrading our failing public water infrastructure: water treatment plants and the piping to supply public water, sewage, and stormwater to assure safe drinking water and to protect aquatic ecosystems from pollution.
Reduce Lead Exposure
Support the reduction of lead exposure in people and animals by eliminating lead in drinking water, investing in lead remediation
in Minnesota homes and other locations, and banning the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle.
Reduce Toxic Substances
Support the reduction or banning of toxic and carcinogenic substances, such as harmful PFAS chemicals, in consumer goods, and require newly developed similar substances to be proven safe before widespread manufacture and use.