Bluestem Prairie

Big trouble in Big Stone County: Strata mining, Ortonville Township and House File 389

Vicki Oakes, chair of the Big Stone County Planning and Zoning Commission, wasn't happy with the 100 restless citizens seated in front of her at the board meeting on Thursday night in Clinton, Minnesota, population 449. 

Upset by the possibility that beloved granite outcroppings in Ortonville Township might soon be blasted into aggregate for concrete, they'd organized, circulated a petition, written letters to the editors of local papers, and marched singing anti-mining tunes and carrying handmade pro-rock, pro-ball cactus signs to the Clinton Community Center.

Some weren't respecting her authority, throwing out loud suggestions about what she could do with the conditional use permit (CUP) sought by Strata Corporation, a Grand Forks sand and gravel corporation running gravel pits across the upper Midwest.

Not that the suggestions that "You could just vote no" were profane or vulgar. Just out of order.  But not too out of order, since sheriff's deputies were on hand to keep the peace, and the motley crowd of cattle farmers, small business people, students, Dakota activists, Republicans, DFLers, writers, artists, and local food growers had parked their signs outside.

But Oakes, Community Development Coordinator for the City of Ortonville, was letting her temper flair during the informally managed meeting. When citizens clapped, booed or recorded proceedings on cell phones, she slapped them down.

Welcome to pitchforks and torches, Minnesota Western Boundary Waters Nice style.

***

The dominant model for protest--Tea Party or leftward--is the Alinsky model: pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In Big Stone County, home to fewer than 5300 souls, this can be a bit awkward, especially when the argument isn't about stopping development, but rather, what sort of development is best to keep Big Stone County from continuing to hemorrhage people as residents take off to Sioux Falls or the Cities.

One bet is the traditional extractive industry like gravel pits.  The West Central Tribune's Tom Cherveny reports in Quarry proposal opens mining debate on the edge of Minnesota’s western boundary waters:

The quarry would pay a projected $20,000 a year in aggregate taxes to Big Stone County and Ortonville Township annually. It is projected to create six to eight jobs.

That's not a lot by metro terms, but on the western border away from any mini-metropolis, those jobs are hard to come by. The successful but aging farmer who seeks to lease his land to Strata Corporation frames the development in those terms.

Gayle Hedge shared his thoughts with writer Anne Queenan in emerging synergy for love of place?, a profile posted on her blog. Queenan writes:

Understanding Gayle’s story seems important as it has a pivotal impact on what the landscape will look like along the headwaters of the Minnesota River 130 years from now.  It is a story filled with hard work, entrepreneurism, humor and a big love of life in a small town of western Minnesota. . . .

Hedge believes the county will benefit from the proposed quarries with six to eight new seasonal positions for Big Stone County and a combined tax revenue of approximately $26,000 a year.  “Those employees will fill some of the many vacant houses available in Ortonville, ” Hedge said.  In addition, he plans to set up a fund for the City of Ortonville through $50,000 received from Strata Corporation in exchange for the agreement to mine the land for the next 130 years.  

In Big Stone County's scale of things, that's a generous endowment. Hedge is a respected member of his community who is looking to the longterm, 130 years into the future. Queenan's article doesn't spell out what entity will administer the fund (the City of Ortonville or a community foundation) but even quarry opponents appreciate the caring qesture.

Others suggest that the rock outcroppings--and the wildlife refuge and bike trail near them--have a more enduring economic value. Cherveny writes:

Lodging and hospitality industry revenues in 2010 in Big Stone County totaled $4.1 million, with tax revenues to all sources of $282,000, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

The environmental harm — the loss of yet another endangered rock outcrop — and what mining operations ultimately means to the area is what brought Duane Ninneman to Clinton on Sunday. Blasting and crushing rock and loading trains are all certain to add silica and other dust to the air and cause noise pollution to the detriment of residents in the area, he explained.

A Big Stone County resident and consultant with Clean Up the River Environment, Ninneman has been helping residents opposed to the project. “Our concern is our residents and making sure their way of life is a good way of life,’’ said Ninneman.

For Vicki Oakes, the dilemma isn't an abstraction, but a professional tension. In addition to serving as the Community Development Coordinator for the City of Ortonville, Oakes serves on the Western Prairie Waters Regional Tourism board.

***

Big Stone County resident Duane Ninneman also takes a long view, but sees things from a different perspective as a member of the Minnesota River revival movement. If it issued cards, he'd carry one, but the intentional community building that's been going on among sustainable development advocates hasn't gotten around to that part yet.

Instead, the movement members have built groups like CURE (Clean Up the River Environment), sustainability projects, the Meander art gallery crawl, eco-tourism and community building.  While there's oppositional organizing, as the case of the fight against the Big Stone II coal plant and the protest signs at the Clinton meeting, the folks along the Upper Minnesota River are more interested in teaching the art of hosting than selling the metrics of the Alinsky methods.

CURE Executive Director Patrick Moore, a mainstay on Montevideo's Main Street, hands me a flyer for the Art of Hosting Training that the group is sponsoring in early May at the Prairie's Edge Resort and Casino in Granite Falls. The Art of Hosting, the document tells me, attempts to heal the broken relationships between people.

In the conflict in Big Stone County, Moore seeks to stop the relentless march of the permit process so that citizens can hold the sort of "courageous conversations" that they need to have about what sort of communities they and their children should enjoy.  A musician and river enthusiast, he peppers his conversations with notions of respect, compassion and dialogue for everyone.

Right now, he and his friends in Big Stone County are talking about the interim ordinance that the Ortonville Township Board of Supervisors passed to give residents time to talk about what they want for their community. MPR's Mark Steil reports in Quarry plan faces more hurdles:

And there's another potential roadblock for the project. The Ortonville Township Board has passed a moratorium on new projects like the proposed quarry. The township plans to set up its own planning and zoning commission which would have to approve Strata's plans. Strata officials say they are reviewing the township action.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has consistently upheld the authority of townships to govern themselves and pass their own rules. It's part of the tradition of local control in Minnesota, one that's threatened by players far away from Big Stone County.

***

On Friday afternoon after the Clinton hearing, I receive a blast action alert from the Land Stewardship Project, which keeps a field office in Montevideo that promotes local food and sustainable, family-scale agriculture. Organizer Bobby King cuts to the chase about the threat to local control, specifically interim ordinances like that approved by the Ortonville Township board:

House File 389 will make it more difficult for citizens who want their township, county or city to take action and protect the community from unanticipated, harmful development. The bill weakens the power of local governments to enact interim ordinances (also called land use moratoriums). An interim ordinance allows local governments to quickly put a temporary freeze on major development. This power is essential when the community is caught off-guard by unanticipated and potentially harmful proposals, especially those from corporate interests and outside investors, such as big box stores like Wal-Mart or a large-scale factory farm. An interim ordinance freezes the status quo and gives the community time to review or create the appropriate zoning ordinances.

UPDATE: House File 389 was tabled at the Jan. 26 hearing in the House Government Operations and Elections Committee due to our phone calls and e-mails and strong testimony in opposition. Now new language for the bill is being proposed as a “compromise.” However, this new language still dramatically weakens local control and is NOT a compromise. Under this new proposal, after a project applies for a permit the local unit of government has a short window of time in which to enact an interim ordinance. If they miss that window, then the proposed project is exempt. The clock starts running before any public hearing — by the time there is a hearing, the clock could be run out. . .

In short, taking away one of the tools citizens in Big Stone County just implemented to stop the clock for a timeout and conversation. Gutting local control has long been a goal of developers and Big Ag, but with self-professed enemies of big government now in control of the state capitol, the odds for big government to neuter little government has never been higher.

Indeed, part of the rushed conversation about Strata in Big Stone County arises in that same paradox: thanks to a "reform" in the permitting process, Big Stone County has only 60 days to review a permit application under most circumstances, following recent reforms of the process.

Ortonville Township isn't alone in the questions it's taking time to ask about mining by enacting a moratorium.

Across the state in Southeastern Minnesota, Goodhue, Wabasha and Winona Counties have adopted interim ordinances to review the impact of silica sand (fracking sand) mining as the natural gas boom and attendent use of hydrologic fracking to abstract gas from shale fires demand for the fine sand.

Citizens on the other side of the state have packed committee and board hearings, held community meetings and physically blocked trucks hauling fracking sand. Those who argue for development talk jobs; those who oppose the strip mines talk water quality, dust, property value, natural beauty, property values--and jobs, created by tourism from people seeking the loveliness of the Upper Mississippi's driftless region.

***

Neither a need for dialogue nor the Ortonville Township Board of Supervisors was slowing down Big Stone County Planning Commission Chair Vicki Oakes in Clinton on Thursday Night.

And despite a rising series of complications and permit conditions involving dust, water quality issues, livestock health, road access, rare plants, and other issues, Oakes was pushing for "consensus," which looked more like taking a vote and getting a simple majority agreement than the generally accepted definition of  consensus.

This seemed odd, as many reasonable people in the crowd thought that perhaps the discussion might have led rational people to conclude that the site wasn't a particularly good choice for the operation, especially since there are so many other areas in the region where rock could be mined. Indeed, some observers later wondered why huge piles of tailings from old quarries couldn't be crushed for aggregate--and that doing so might cost Strata less, thereby increasing profit.  No time for dialogue on that.

Nor was Oakes buying a suggestion from a board member that perhaps Strata simply be allowed to have one quarry, for 30 years, so that the impacts of one mine could be assessed after one generation. Instead, she appeared to be on board with the notion that a permit for 130 years was the only reasonable approach for mining on the difficult site.

She also wanted the public to sit down and behave, though apparently she deemed representatives from Strata as having enough interest in the project to allow them to approach the tables where she sat to conduct side conversions that weren't clear to the rest of us.

Indeed, it was difficult to note just who was speaking in the meeting, since Oakes tended not to call on board members by name before they spoke. Since the meeting was only being audiotaped (with videotaping forbidden), I knew that it would be hard to tell who said what when I got the tape, so I tried shooting video with my cellphone. 

No dice: Oakes snapped at me to stop, and a few seconds later warned: "I better not see that posted on the Internet."

The board voted 5-3, with one abstention, to recommend passage of the CUP by the County Commissioners. Since the vote wasn't videotaped for all to see, a staff member at CURE created the graphic above.

After the meeting, I snapped some closeups of the board; Oakes ordered me to "Stop it." I indentified myself as a reporter/writer from a blog. She seemed more angry than ever (one suspects that rough treatment in a local online forum may have influenced that rage).

A few moments later, I approached her like my hand extended to shake and attempted to introduce myself and name the place where I publish, but she snapped at me to stop again. I asked once more if she wanted to comment --a request met with a resounding no.

Perhaps she might profit from taking in that training on the Art of Hosting in May--as may I.

Photos: The vote in Clinton (above; photo by BSP); the site in Ortonville Township (middle;photo by Anne Queenan); Vicki Oakes after the meeting ( below; photo by BSP).

Immigrants for Sale: Will Appleton's shuttered private prison open in human trafficking scheme?

Yesterday at the Minnesota Independent, editor Jon Collins broke the news that the Corrections Corporation of America's private prison in Appleton, shuttered for want of business from the state of Minnesota, may reopen.

In Private prison company’s growth went hand-in-hand with political influence, Collins reports:

It’s been almost two years since the privately-run prison in Appleton has held prisoners. But in early 2012, the prison’s owner, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), expects to fill Appleton’s Prairie Correctional Facility and another facility in Colorado with 3,256 inmates from California.

In the last ten years, the revenue of CCA, the country’s biggest private prison company, has almost doubled, according to their annual reports. Critics say that CCA’s success, and even the likely reopening of the prison in Appleton, stems from their use of lobbying and campaign donations to push through tougher crime laws and increase detainment of illegal immigrants.

“Prison privatization contracts are designed by policy makers. It’s important for these companies to have a political strategy to increase their market share,” Paul Ashton, author of a recent report on private prisons for the Justice Policy Institute, said in a conference call Wednesday. Private prison companies “game the system,” he said, by pushing to increase market share, which in the private prison business means putting more people in prison.

The Appleton facility is in DFLer Andrew Falk's House district and Gary Kubly's Senate District. When the state began transferring inmates from the private Prairie Correctional Facility to the less-costly public facility in Faribault, the Morris Sun reported that both legislators went to bat for the jobs the corporation provided:

“Devastating’’ is how Appleton Mayor Ron Ronning, himself an employee of the private prison, described the consequences to his community should the facility be closed or mothballed. The mayor was among well over 120 people, most of them employees of the facility, who packed the Appleton Civic Center on Friday morning for a town meeting hosted by State Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, and State Rep. Andrew Falk, DFL-Murdock.

Mayor Ronning said he feared that Appleton and the surrounding rural area could see a major exodus of jobs and suffer the economic strife that gripped it during the farm crisis of the 1980s, when businesses shuttered their windows and homes were left vacant.

The 1,600-bed Appleton facility is currently housing 542 inmates from Minnesota and another 525 from the state of Washington, according to Tim Wengler, its warden. The state of Washington has been slowly reducing its number of inmates.

So what's the problem with re-opening the prison and putting people in Appleton back to work? Back to the Collins' report. Go read about the influence of private money on public justice. And there's also this:

One thousand seven hundred fifty miles from L.A. to Appleton
CCA and other private prison companies are doing very well. In 2010, CCA saw total revenue of $1.67 billion, according to CCA’s annual report. But there is a human cost to the industry too.

Amy Gottlieb of the American Friends Service Committee told the Minnesota Independent that prisoners transferred to other states often face both emotional and legal hurdles.

“Ultimately, we have thousands and thousands and thousands of people around the country who are being locked up, held away from their families, in the immigration context are often unrepresented by council,” Gottlieb said. “People are profiting off of that.”

According to CCA’s website, one of the benefits of out-of-state inmate management is that the company will “[a]dhere to state-specific policies and procedures, as well as hundreds of standards set by the American Correctional Association and our company.”

But the fact that prisoners, including detained immigrants in some federal facilities, are being held in the less accountable private facilities is of concern to advocates like Gottlieb.

“We have seen over and over again that the private prison lobby is extremely powerful and they have deep connections to a lot of politicians and get a lot of federal contracts,” Gottlieb said. “That creates very serious concerns when what we are really talking about here are human rights and human rights violations.”

The Cuentame community told the story via the powerful video, "Immigrants for Sale":

I've praised both Kubly and Falk in the past on Bluestem, but won't hesitate to cry foul if either cheers this development by CCA.  Opening the prison for detainees would only feed the human supply chain for private profit that was at the core of SB1070--and copycat bills like ALEC zombie legislator Steve Drazkowski's own HB3830.

Rural Minnesota needs jobs, but profiting from human trafficking isn't the way to do it.

Update: Roy Pratt at City Pages reports Prairie Correctional Facility, private prison, not re-opening soon, says Rep. Andrew Falk.

Note: Currently in Minnesota, ICE detainees are held in county jails that the Department of Homeland Security contracts with for detention services.

Image: via Cuentame.

Goodhue County commissioners unanimously pass fracking sand mining moratorium

Last night, the Goodhue County board unanimously voted for a one-year moratorium on silica sand mining, the Red Wing Republican Eage reports in Silica sand mine moratorium unanimously approved:

Goodhue County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a moratorium preventing the issuance of any conditional use permits for silica sand mine operations in the county for up to a year.

Citizen group Save the Bluffs has been working toward getting the moratorium in place for months, and received letters of support from the cities of Red Wing and Lake City, as well as Florence, Hay Creek and Featherstone townships. . . .

The Star Tribune has more in Goodhue County to take a second look at sand mining:

Silica sand has become a valuable commodity in recent years because it is crucial to an oil- and gas-extraction technology called hydrofracking, which is transforming the domestic U.S. energy business.

Sand mining, however, has aroused local controversy in recent months as Red Wing-area residents organized around an effort for the moratorium. "We were elated and relieved" the board approved it, said Jody McIlrath, a member of the citizens group opposed to the mining operation."

. . . The debate in Goodhue County echoes those in small communities across Wisconsin and southern Minnesota as dozens of companies acquire land at high prices to supply drill rigs from New York to Texas.

The Star Tribune reports that mining on the Windsor Permian land in Goodhue County would be too small of a project to trigger state oversight. The local concerns that led to last night's decision:

Opponents say the county shouldn't permit a mining facility near residential communities. They fear damage to local streams and groundwater, and they say the open pit mine will be a blight on Red Wing's beautiful rolling landscape. They are also concerned about potential health effects. Dust from silica sand can cause a number of lung diseases, including cancer.

Nationally, the fracking process, rather than mining the sand itself, has gotten the lion's share of attention:

The hydrofracking process blasts a mixture of sand, water and chemicals into wells, creating fissures in the rock and freeing hard-to-reach pockets of oil and natural gas. Hydrofracking has raised major environmental questions and is under review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are among the few places in the country that can provide the perfectly round, inert silica sand used in the process; it comes from the 500-million-year-old Jordan sandstone formation that lies close to the surface in parts of both states.

Minnesota Public Radio reports in Goodhue County officials say time needed to study fracture mining:

A proposal for a one-year moratorium on fracture mining, often called fracking, was popular at a meeting Tuesday evening in Red Wing.

About 200 people filled the public hearing room for a meeting that lasted nearly three hours and included public comments from 20 people in support of the moratorium. No one spoke in opposition. . .

For Goodhue residents like Keith Fossen, the moratorium is a victory. Fossen lives near the property purchased by Windsor Permian and said he wants county commissioners to take their time to study the potential impacts of fracture mining, including water pollution and damages to bluffs and roads.

"The work has just begun," Fossen said. "Are we going to permit that kind of industrial mining in our county?

"If the answer is no, then how do we do that correctly? If the answer is yes, then how do we control it? How do we not let it impact the quality of our lives?"

Fossen, who lives 100 yards from the proposed site, took part in a Rochester Post Bulletin community dialogue on mining last week. Read about it here.

Photo: Aerial view of the potential site in Rock Creek Township, Goodhue County.

Related posts: Post Bulletin to kick up silica sand mining dialogue at Rochester library Tuesday night

Fracking update: Red Wing City Council unanimously backs silica mining moratorium

Fracking sand moratorium activists gain steam; Red Wing city commissions support yearlong ban

New Youtube: "High Price" of fracking sand extraction

Goodhue Co. fracking sand mining moratorium supporters mobilize at the township level

No fracking way: Wabasha County places temporary moratorium on silica sand mining

Updated: Windsor Permian consultant spotted at Goodhue County planning commission meeting

Video guy turned activist: Post Bulletin profiles Jim Tittle's work on fracking sand dispute

Connecting the dots on fracking sand: from Hay Creek Township's citizens to the New York Times

Note: The current iteration of this post reflects the correct spelling of Keith Fossen's name. He is incorrectly identified as "Keith Fossum" in PB's reporting.

Farm Bill 2012: Walz farm listening session and Minnesota Farm Bill Forum open to public

Every five years (or sometimes longer), Congress writes a new Farm Bill, which deals not only with farming, but nutrition programs like food stamps, energy, rural development and conservation programs. Two upcoming events will give citizens a chance to share ideas and learn about the process of writing the bill.

While the USDA's share of the federal budget is only 4.3 percent, the public perceives direct payments to farmers as wasteful; but, in a recent Farmfest forum, some analysts saw little change coming to these programs because "significant number of ag committee members representing the south, such as Texas and Oklahoma" where direct payments are common for crops like cotton and rice. The severe drought Texas is currently suffering makes these committee members pause before asking farmers to adopt major changes in the way they finance their operations.  Another panelist suggested that the new bill will adopt risk management tools, such as crop insurance rather, than continuing direct payments.

Two meetings are coming up in August for people interested in the direction of farm policy. The first is on a farm and geared toward the concerns of farmers; the second focuses on conservation.

From Thom Petersen's August 15 Notes from the Farmers Union:

MFU invites members to attend a public farm bill listening session held by Rep. Tim Walz Friday August 19^th at Warren Krohn's farm near Nicollet from 9:00 to 10:30am.  This will be a general discussion on what farmers feel should be priorities heading into the next Federal Farm Bill. MFU President Doug Peterson will also attend . . .

MFU (I'm a member) is also involved in the Minnesota Farm Bill Forum on August 22 in West St. Paul. From the Izaak Walton League:

Minnesota’s conservation and agricultural leaders will join forces on August 22 to discuss how the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill can better conserve the state’s water, wildlife, and farmlands.

Sponsored by the Izaak Walton League of America – with collaborative event planning by the Freshwater Society, Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the National Wildlife Federation – the August 22 forum is scheduled from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Dakota Lodge, 1200 Stassen Lane, West Saint Paul.  A major component of the event will be a panel of Minnesota agricultural producers discussing what federal farm programs mean to them and conservation on their land.

Featured speakers include representatives from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Brad Redlin from the Izaak Walton League of America, and Gary Botzek with the Minnesota Conservation Federation. Among the topics to be discussed:

• Minnesota farmers’ priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill;
• How the 2012 Farm Bill can help protect water quality and conserve farmlands; and
• Benefits to Minnesota’s wildlife through effective farm policy.

“Every five years, a massive piece of legislation called the Farm Bill determines how tens of billions of federal tax dollars will be spent to shape American agriculture. These sessions will help all Minnesotans – from anglers to farmers – better understand how the Farm Bill impacts our water, air, land and how we can better shape conservation and farm priorities,” said Gene Merriam, Freshwater Society.

The Izaak Walton League of America is spearheading events in five Midwest states – Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin – to discuss the needs and opportunities for the 2012 Farm Bill. The goal is to gain public input from all types of citizens on the effective role of the Farm Bill in supporting an agricultural system that achieves stewardship, prosperity, and fairness.

“That means federal farm policies should support agricultural practices that are good for farmers, good for the environment, and good for America,” said Brad Redlin, agricultural program director of the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA).

The U.S. Farm Bill sets federal policy for agriculture, energy, conservation, nutrition, and rural development. The last bill, passed in 2008, was called the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and carried a price tag of $288 billion. In today’s tough economic times, funding for the Farm Bill will be under increased scrutiny, which underscores the importance of public involvement at these initial stages, event organizers explained.

“Conservation Compliance can help ensure that where public money is invested, the public’s interests are protected by requiring basic levels of protections for soil, water, and wetlands. Compliance actions require no additional Farm Bill investment – in fact, they can result in saving federal dollars.” Redlin said.

For more information about the Izaak Walton League of America and the Farm Bill go to www.iwla.org/agconservation. More about Conservation Compliance is contained in IWLA issue briefs:

• The Conservation Compliance Covenant: Issue Brief I
• Conservation Compliance and Crop Insurance: Issue Brief II

The Minnesota Farm Bill Forum is free and open to the public.  To attend, please RSVP by visiting http://farmbill.eventbrite.com or by contacting Gwen Steel at (651) 649-1446.

Photo: Butterfly weed, a native prairie plant that often shows up as a bright spot in conservation programs.

Earmark ban helps spike Goodview water rates

In order to meet federal radon limits, the Southeaster Minnesota city of Goodview had to build a new waterworks, but Republican imposition of an earmarks ban makes it nearly impossible for the city to get funds allocated to help with the project's cost.

The Winona Daily News reports in Goodview water utility costs soar after federal funds dry up:

The city of Goodview’s utility rates and water budget have tripled in the past five years. The cost of running its new water-treatment plant has nearly quadrupled.

That’s because $3 million in federal money, which the city once hoped would prevent those expenses from rising, never arrived. And after four years of waiting, Goodview Mayor Jack Weimerskirch said he’s ready to give up.

“With the current climate and the way politics works, we don’t have any hopes,” Weimerskirch said.

The federal funds for the project were first authorized four years ago this month, but were never allocated. And city officials, facing a federal mandate to reduce the amount of naturally occurring radium in its water — as well as threats of fines or even jail time for noncompliance — couldn’t wait to build the $4.3 million plant.

“Had I known I would be retired by that time, jail might not have been a bad alternative,” Weimerskirch said.

The paper reports that the typical Goodview water consumer uses about 7,000 gallons each month, so those paying $146 in 2006 now pay $420 monthly bills.

So what's the deal with Congress? The story continues:

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who made the initial appropriation request, has requested the money every year since 2008.

“Congressman Walz has done absolutely everything in his power to advocate for federal funding to offset the cost of the treatment plant,” said Sara Severs, Walz’s press secretary.

But Walz admitted in a previous interview with the Daily News that it would be a “challenge” to obtain the money, and his hands are tied this year, after House Republicans banned all appropriations requests.

Weimerskirch said the city will continue to work with Walz and other politicians to find solutions, but he isn’t optimistic.

“Our chances are slim to none,” he said. “Things look bleak.”

Promising to ban earmarks makes for nice sound bites, but don't help cities like Goodview supply basic city services, like safe, clean drinking water.

On the other side of the First, the earmark ban has created headaches for the Louis And Clark Rural Water system, a massive public works project designed to bring safe, potable water to parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota where geological factors make for a nasty water supply.

Before the earmark ban, senators and representatives from both parties requested the earmarks, and local communities involved in the project have already paid their shares toward the project.

Looks like the Republicans threw out the bathwater with the bridge to nowhere (ironically, a Republican earmark. . .)

Photo: Did Republicans open the taps of stupid?

Related posts: Will Goodview water project be flush with stimulus money?

Franken salutes Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project as totally worthy

Lewis & Clark Rural Water: Franken steps up

In the era of don't tell, don't ask for earmarks, Schomacker bill tells delegation to fund Lewis & Clark Rural Water project

Less than zero: Bush reneges on promises to Southwest Minnesota

Free-ranging Senator Franken stops for a little piece of pie on the prairie

With the debt crisis bill passed, Minnesota's congressional delegation is out on recess--and Al Franken is using the time to visit Greater Minnesota.

It's no secret the Frankens are pie lovers, so Bluestem isn't surprised to read about this stop in yesterday's Mankato Free Press article, Franken continues trip through Mankato area:

Al Franken’s wide-ranging tour of south-central Minnesota comes to Mankato today following stops Wednesday at Farmfest near Redwood Falls, Lyle’s Cafe in Winthrop and the New Ulm Medical Center.

The Farmfest stop is a traditional one for Minnesota’s elected officials, and the famous pie at Lyle’s explains the Winthrop stop.

Winthrop is just down Highway 15 from Bluestem's national headquarters in Hutchinson.

It's too bad my state representative Ron Shimanski couldn't enjoy some pie with Al at the restaurant just outside Minnesota House District 18A, but the Minnesota Independent reports that the Silver Lake apple grower was headed far farther south.

No wonder constituents like Gus Ziemer send letters with headlines like Party politics caused lawmakers to stray from their duty to the Hutchinson Leader. Heck of a party.

Franken's progress across the prairie demonstrates there's plenty to do in sunny Greater Minnesota and that Al talks fluent Minnesotan. The Marshall Independent reports in Franken talks agriculture at Farmfest:

With a debt ceiling deal reached in Washington, national legislators are coming back to Minnesota. U.S. Sen. Al Franken was present at Farmfest on Wednesday, speaking at the main forum tent and meeting with members of the public. However, questions from audience members at the forum tended to center more around topics like ethanol subsidies and the next Farm Bill.

Franken gave an update on his involvement with agriculture-related issues in Congress. Agriculture is a key part of Minnesota's economy and traditions, Franken said. "I know that in representing Minnesota, a large part of my job is representing you," he told audience members. . . .

The rest of the article is a fascinating read about Franken's fairly technical responses to the questions--but the discourse is pretty familiar stuff out here on the prairie. That gal in the bib-overalls may not have an Ivy League degree like the junior senator, but raise a point about federal farm policy, impossibly complex, and she'll sound like the expert she is. And has to have been to stay in an brutal business.

Franken fits in pretty well with the farmers.

His remarks at the farmshow parallel a column in the ECM chain, Sen. Franken fights for future of Minnesota farmers, which touches on renewable energy and railroad issues. Go check it out.

The West Central Tribune reports in Sen. Franken talks agriculture, debt vote at Farmfest stop:

. . .Dressed in khaki pants, a dark collared shirt and cowboy boots, Franken fit right in during his Wednesday afternoon radio interview with Lynn Ketelsen of the Linder Farm Market.

The Democratic senator, back in Minnesota while Congress is in recess for a month, said he was not pleased with how the negotiations went to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations. . . .

In addition to the radio interview in front of an audience under the Forum Tent at Farmfest, Franken spoke to the crowd there for about 15 minutes about various issues facing Minnesota farmers, including the 2012 Farm Bill that Franken said he hopes is actually completed in 2012.

Franken said that direct payments to farmers and agriculture research could “take a hit” in next year’s legislation. The current farm program includes “direct payments” to farmers that are paid each year on qualifying crops regardless of market conditions, and “countercyclical payments” that are paid only in years when market prices fall below a set level.

“It seems an emphasis is on a safety net program to make sure we keep farmers farming,” Franken said.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Franken said he is working on legislation to capitalize on wind energy and give small farms and cooperatives the opportunity to own wind.

Franken also spent time Wednesday at the University of Minnesota tent at Farmfest and meeting his constituents on the grounds of the annual show. . . .

The focus shifted from ag to health care for the New Ulm stop, the Journal reports in Franken talks health care, debt ceiling:

Sen. Al Franken stopped by New Ulm on Wednesday for an update on the status of the New Ulm Medical Center's (NUMC) Heart of New Ulm program.

NUMC Administrator Toby Freier and Heart of New Ulm Community Coordinator Betsy Pieser led a brief presentation on the status of Heart of New Ulm before taking questions from Franken.

The main highlight was a Center of Health Care Innovation at Allina study showing a drop in New Ulm heart attacks and the HeartBeat Connections program that provides health coaching. . . .

. . .Franken said after the meeting that he thought Heart of New Ulm was overall moving in the right direction.

"It's unrealistic to for people to expect an incredible transformation this soon," said Franken, "But, as pointed out, it's doing a good job of bucking obesity trends nationally and in Minnesota."

Health Care

Franken said there needs to be a national push to approach health care like the Heart of New Ulm, which emphasized keeping people healthy as opposed to just treating illness.

Staff writer Josh Moniz covers Franken's reaction to the debt ceiling bill in depth. Definitely worth a read.

Though Franken established himself first as a comedian, it's clear from the coverage that he's growing comfortable in his relatively new senatorial skin, at ease with policy and the wide range of people on the prairie.  Doggone it, we like him.

No fracking way: Wabasha County places temporary moratorium on silica sand mining

Bluestem has been following the Goodhue County controversy over a potential silica sand mine near Red Wing; the sand would be used for "fracking" shale to extract natural gas. Now the issue has trickled to another county.

One in the heart of Drazistan.

The Winona Daily News reports in Wabasha County puts moratorium on frac sand mines:

Wabasha County put a moratorium this week on all new mining operations, a move primarily related to recent interest in mining silica sand - also known as frac sand - in the county.

The moratorium, which could last up to a year, is a way of "avoiding potential damage to the county," said David Johnson, the Wabasha County administrator.

The Board of Commissioners approved the moratorium Tuesday after the county received interest from private parties in starting sand mines. The mines collect silica sand, which is then used in hydraulic fracturing, an increasingly popular process to extract natural gas and oil from the earth.

Wabasha and Goodhue aren't the only potential sites for frank sand mines. From the article:

Wabasha County isn't the only county that's received interest in frac sand mining. There are currently five active or approved mines in Trempealeau County. Four more applications are on the Aug. 10 agenda, with three new applications to be considered Sept. 14.

Will Wabasha County's moratorium encourage Goodhue County's commissioners to listen citizens who are requesting one for their scenic area? Stay tuned.

Photo: Aerial view of the proposed site in Goodhue County. Wabasha County--in the heart of Drazistan--is chosing to be more deliberative in the planning process. Speaking of Draz, where is he this week?

Related posts: Updated: Windsor Permian consultant spotted at Goodhue County planning commission meeting

Video guy turned activist: Post Bulletin profiles Jim Tittle's work on fracking sand dispute

Connecting the dots on fracking sand: from Hay Creek Township's citizens to the New York Times

Franken salutes Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project as totally worthy

The Republican earmark ban may threaten to turn off the taps for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project, but Al Franken is earning praise from the Worthington Globe for hauling water for the project.

In Water project hailed as priority, the editors note:

Franken said the answers he got didn’t make much sense, but added that’s not — and never has been — his primary concern. He told the Daily Globe on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salalzar commented during a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing that Lewis & Clark was a primary project of his, and that it should be fully funded.

Franken noted that he is seeking a meeting with the Department of the Interior and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget “to press the administration to make sure this is fully funded.” The state and local share has been covered, he stressed — “the federal government should live up to its side of the bargain.”

As we’ve indicated before, Lewis & Clark is critical to future economic development in northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota. Franken, along with fellow senators Amy Klobuchar, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin — as well as area U.S. representatives — must continue to “press” to get the money this project needs and deserves.

Heck yes.

At least something real is moo-ving in St. Paul: Dayton signs ag bill

With all the squabbling going on, it's good to know rural Minnesota doesn't have to wait for the cows to come home for an ag bill. Governor Dayton signed the Omnibus Agriculture Appropriations Bill today, which passed with support from both sides of the aisle.

Press release from the Governor's office:

Today, Governor Mark Dayton signed the Omnibus Agriculture Appropriations Bill (Senate File 1016/House File 1039) into law. The bill appropriates nearly $79 million for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Board of Animal Health and the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute over the next two years. The sum of the appropriations represents a 5% reduction to each of the three agencies’ operating budgets.

Governor Dayton was joined at a signing ceremony by Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Doug Magnus, House Agriculture Committee Chair Rod Hamilton, Senator Gary Kubly, and Representative Kent Eken. Kevin Paap, President of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and Doug Peterson, President of the Minnesota Farmers Union were also in attendance.

Signing the bill, Governor Dayton said, “This first appropriations bill is another example of excellent bi-partisan cooperation, for which I thank the Committee Chairs, Ranking Democrats, and Commissioner Frederickson. It is a model for how we can work together and compromise in order to reach a conclusion.

“I also commend Commissioner Frederickson and his staff for increasing the efficiency of the Department of Agriculture by merging two agency divisions. They have achieved a 5% operating budget reduction without any loss of services to Minnesota citizens.”

The bill adopts a number of recommendations from Governor Dayton’s budget proposal including:
- Implementing a 5% reduction to Minnesota Department of Agriculture agency operations;
- Paying out all remaining ethanol deficiency payments in the first year of the biennium at a total of $13.114 million;
- Providing funds to improve food safety through increased inspections of food retailers and manufacturers;
- Providing funds to protect farmers and fertilizer applicators by increasing inspections of anhydrous ammonia storage tanks; and
- Moving Minnesota forward into the next generation of the alternative fuels economy by allocating $5 million from the ethanol producer payment program (which is to be ended) to Next Gen Energy Grants and to grants and loans through the Agricultural Growth, Research and Infrastructure (AGRI) fund.

Photo: The First Swedish Independent Baptist Church of Collinwood, Meeker County, Minnesota.

DL Online: "outstate cities are wise to fight back against a divide-and-conquer attack"

Yet another voice has been raised against the cyncial suburban mallrat Republican legislative mindset governing decisions on LGA.

The common sense coming out of Detroit Lakes echoes that heard about transportation earlier today in Winona.

In Going to bat for Twin Cities, the DL Online editors write:

When it comes to the battle over the future of Local Government Aid in Minnesota, outstate cities are wise to fight back against a divide-and-conquer attack by House conservatives.

In an opinion piece, Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden and Granite Falls Mayor Dave Smiglewski decry efforts to slash LGA to the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

LGA is basically state money to cities to keep local property taxes down.

“As mayors of cities that have been hit by disasters including tornados and floods, we know that we can count on Minneapolis and Saint Paul for assistance — unless the House majority succeeds in marginalizing the state’s two biggest cities,” the two write in their opinion piece.

The editors use common sense:

Minnesota’s strength lies in its diversity and in its economic interconnectedness, and those who are active in city governments in outstate Minnesota understand the benefits that Minneapolis and Saint Paul provide to rural communities.

Likewise, the mayors of the Twin Cities understand that if the whole state isn’t healthy, their communities will not do well, so it is hard to understand why the legislature is turning a blind eye to that fact.

They conclude:

We join the two mayors in hoping that House members and the legislature as a whole will continue to reflect on their actions and change their minds about reversing a policy that has led to an economically strong state.

The rural values I know are at work in that editorial.

Photo: Suburban Republican leadership. Don't take pretzel logic on LGA from these guys and gals.

Related posts: WDN: Draz anti-rail amendment "fast track to hell"

Worthington Globe tells MNGOP legislative mall rats: big cities and small, we're one state

Legislative lamprey logic; or, farmers and editors in Albert Lea know suburbs are like sucker plants

WDN: Draz anti-rail amendment "fast track to hell"

One can't blame the Republican Party of Minnesota for sticking to the beaten path of its "country mouse and city louse" rhetoric. For years, they've flattered a sense of rural injured merit, and gained seats and political power.

But we hicks are figuring it out--once again--realizing that it's one Minnesota, a state deeply connected (and not just when the GOP majorities want to steal from a local mining revenue on the Range so that their corporate pals don't have to share sacrifice by paying a penny more in taxes) where the well being of most of us rises and falls together.

And that kicking responsibility up the road is a great way to create potholes.

Once again, the editors of the Winona Daily News call out Steve Drazkowski for his divisive, us-v.them politics. This time, the suckers' game he played was transportation. In Transportation not an either/or proposition, Darrell Ehrlick notes: 

Winona — and Greater Minnesota for that matter — may be on the road to hell, if conventional wisdom is right. You know that old saying about the path to hell being paved with good intentions, right? . . .

It’s not that Minnesotans ever said, “Hey, let’s let craters the size of a moped pock our roads across the state.”

It’s not like anyone’s holding up a sign that says, “Boo roads!”

That’s why it’s so darn tempting to do what Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, did with recent legislation.

A Drazkowski-sponsored amendment to a bill would effectively halt the Twin Cities Central Corridor project and send nearly $1 billion back to road and transportation projects in Greater Minnesota.

Anyone who’s suffered through tires that prematurely wear out or incessant realignment bills can sympathize with this legislation.

But this amendment itself may be on the fast track to hell, if you’ll excuse mixing the metaphors.

. . . [the amendment] like many of his bills, misses the point completely.

Transportation isn’t a rail versus road issue. It’s not a metro versus Greater Minnesota issue.

Transportation is a perfect example of getting what we’ve paid for.

We’ve shortchanged maintenance, lengthened road life and stretched our infrastructure until it’s breaking. If you think that’s overstatement, go watch next time the Minnesota Department of Transportation takes a hammer to the rusting metal plates of the Interstate Bridge.

As much as we in Greater Minnesota would love to blame it on the Twin Cities, this has nothing to do with the big, bad metro folks robbing us hard-working farm folks.

This has everything to do with funding.

Politicians today are fond of talking about living within our means. Yet we haven’t been living within our transportation means for years. We’ve freeloaded and “cheaped out.”

. . .Now it’s time to pay the bill, and quite frankly, we don’t like the price.

. . . It can’t be an either/or proposition when it comes to transportation. Greater Minnesota relies on the economic power generated by the Twin Cities. And without the strong agricultural, manufacturing and natural resources in the rural areas, the Twin Cities would also diminish greatly.

Read the whole thing--the conclusion is that we'll get what we pay for, and "In many ways, Drazkowski’s legislation is the easy way out. It robs one area of the state to pay for another."

Since the WDN allowed mixed metaphors today, I'll run with that permission. Bluestem thinks the editors are far too kind to Representative Drazkowski when they suggest that the Draz is motivated by good intentions in offering so many bone-headed proposals.

Indeed, he comes up with so many outlandish bills--drawn from who-knows-where--that one wonders if he's hagridden like a character in one of Robert Heinlein's minor sci-fi-novels. But I needn't reach for the fiction bookshelf for an analogy.

Rather, zoology offers a useful contribution to Drazkowski discourse in the form of the Cymothoa exigua, or tongue-eating louse, pictured above. This aquatic parasite attaches itself to, devours, and replaces the tongue of the spotted rose snapper. The possessed fish soon wags the louse as if it were its own, while the louse earns its living as the imposter tongue.

The lousy sources of some of the divisive bills that set Draz's tongue wagging are well known (his anti-immigrant bill last term was a copy-cat of Arizona's SB1070 bill). In this case, the urban v. rural meme itself is the master, with Draz the carrier who--as the editors point out--simply hasn't thought things through.

Image: With that louse as a tongue, who is doing the talking when Steve Drazkowski opens his mouth on the floor of the Minnesota House? A snapper infeste by the Cymothoa exigua, or tongue-eating louse

A little learning will be an expensive thing: MNGOP budget cuts to drain the higher ed spring

The potential effects of drastic cuts in Minnesota Republican higher education funding bills are beginning to make news in Greater Minnesota. Particularly damaging to students and employers alike? Cuts to MNSCU institutions, including tech colleges.

Southeast Technical feels the sting

The Reg Wing Republican Eagle reports in State budget cuts mean fewer services at technical college:

Minnesota lawmakers voted to cut $300 million from college and university spending as they craft a state budget while plugging a $5 billion deficit.

Opponents of the Republican-written bill said that some campuses are threatened and up to 1,500 higher education workers could lose their jobs if the bill becomes law.

Jim Johnson, president of Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical, said because over 80 percent of the college's budget goes to staffing, the cuts would definitely mean laying off employees.

"We will be looking at less staff, doing some layoffs, looking at how we can do things more efficiently," he said.

Bills passing the House and Senate Tuesday set a $2.5 billion two-year budget for state-run colleges and universities. That is down from $2.8 billion in the current budget.

The technical college would have to shave off about $1 million from its budget this year and another $1 million next year, Johnson said. . . .

But the GOP legislators say they're not hurting students by cutting funding to the public colleges and universities:

Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, said his higher education bill allows schools to make up a third of their lost money by raising tuitions.

However, both the House and Senate bills place a limit on how much colleges and universities may raise tuition, ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent.

Both bills increase funds for grants available to students attending public and private schools.

"We did preserve a lot for the students," Sen. Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville, said.

However, Johnson said the tuition cap puts the technical college, which has campuses in Red Wing and Winona, in a hard place. He said in the past, the college has been able to make up for cuts in state money by raising tuition. Because of the cap, that wouldn't be possible, and the college would have to cut services more.

"Whenever you're looking at downsizing, you like to have as much flexibility," Johnson said. He said the cap on tuition would really "hamstring" the college.

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, said the state budget cuts are the deepest he has seen to higher education.

The cuts come at a time when the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system serves 40,000 more students than a decade ago, with less state money than it received then. The University of Minnesota, with 12,000 more students, also would get less money than 10 years ago.. . .

The failing logic of the privatizers: "high aid, high tuition" = high debt, high barriers

The Republican logic follows the line of the "high-aid, high tuition" model that has not lived up to its promises.

Back in the day, Minnesota's public technical schools were known as vo-techs, and the post-secondary education they afforded to students was essentially free. That's because the guiding philosophy in those days was to fund the institution, making school as affordable as possible. While not free, going to school at what was known as Mankato State was a lot cheaper for my brother than my sister's classes at Gustavus were.

Of course, this sort of arrangement couldn't last. Enter one of the most boneheaded, longterm policy decisions ever: the introduction of "high aid, high tuition" for public post-secondary institutions. If these schools cost more, the logic want, they'd have to get better in order to "compete," and if the funding went to the students (ah, a little conservative voucher love), then the marketplace for education rather than government would make everything peachy, and the benefits of higher education would flower through the land.

Fat chance. While public institutions receive less of their money from the legislature, financial aid, other than loans, didn't increase, while student aid itself took on shades of "welfare." And so more roadblocks go up on access to higher education, one of the avenues to the middle class and cradles for American ingenuity.

Mankato presidents feel students' pain

In the Mankato Free Press, Minnesota State University-Mankato president Richard Davenport and South Central College president Keith Stover spell out more problems with the axe-murdering bills in No matter the enrollment, cuts hurt:

Because we have fewer faculty members and more students, our class sections are larger. This means that students who need personal attention must wait longer to see their professors. Some students won’t or can’t wait, reducing the quality of their education.

Because we have fewer faculty members, we are offering fewer sections of classes. This means students have fewer opportunities to get the courses they need to graduate, and some must delay graduation.

We have cut some academic programs, which gives current students fewer choices and turns some prospective students away from higher education. We have fewer student services staff members, which delays financial aid processing, advising and other needed services, as well as reduces the extracurricular activities and the life experiences that we can provide to students.

Over the last decade state support for higher education has consistently declined, shifting greater financial burden to students.

These impacts on students do not help the state to recover from the recession. Each student who can’t get personal attention is a future employee who’ll need more on-the-job training. Each student who must delay graduation is a person who doesn’t contribute to the economy this year. Each student who quits college is a potential loss to business and industry.

A lost generation on the prairie?

And in Marshall, Worthington and other towns served by Southwest Minnesota State University and the network of five small campuses that make up Minnesota West, the talk is of closing and consolidating campuses.

MPR's Tim Post reported in MnSCU studying potential for campus consolidation:

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is studying the potential for consolidation and alignment among some of its schools in southwestern Minnesota.

MnSCU officials will hold a public forum Tuesday night at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall to get input from residents on the educational needs of the region.

MnSCU's spokeswoman Melinda Voss said the study corresponds with the retirement of Southwest State's president, along with the changing demographics in the region.

"We just really want to identify the key higher education programs and services that are needed by this region now and in the future and the most efficient way to deliver those things," Voss said.

The Marshall Independent reported in Study to determine regional higher ed needs:

"Some students need face time, but only a small percentage," [MNSCU consultant] Thompson said. "But some places have been trimmed down so much already that they're working with a skeleton crew. Some people might be wearing 10 hats already."

So as the population drain from the prairie continues, the cycle will speed up as opportunities for education and employment shrink.

Tim Pawlenty Memorial Berm: MNGOP legislative majorities hold back rising tides of higher ed

Year after year, the news from Minnesota isn't good. It's so bad after eight years of Pawlenty, that the Iowa Democratic Party issued a statement in advance of T-Paw's tiger-bloodless pandering to the Iowa College Republicans last week explaining the Pawlenty record that the current Republican Senate and House Caucus seem determined to top with their own anti-prosperity berms.

That record includes:

UNDER PAWLENTY, HIGHER EDUCATION IN MINNESOTA COST MORE BUT DELIVERED LESS

2008: “Students Are Leaving Minnesota Colleges With Record Debt,” With 2008 Minnesota Graduates Shouldering The Sixth-Highest Average Debt In The Nation. [Star Tribune, 12/1/09]

2008 Minnesota Office Of Higher Education Report: “Minnesotans Pay Twice As Much As The National Average To Get A Public College Education, But They’re Not Getting Double The Results.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]

• Star Tribune: “For A State Where High Schools Students Traditionally Fare Well On College Entrance Exams, That’s Disconcerting To Those In Charge Of Assessing The Quality Of Higher Education In Minnesota.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
• Only 36.7 Percent Of College-Bound Students Graduate In Four Years And “Only Five Of The State’s 36 Four-Year Schools – Public Or Private – Had A Four Year Graduation Rate Of Better Than 70 Percent.” [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]
• Only 20 Percent Of Black College-Bound Students Graduate In Four Years And More Than Half Didn’t Graduate Within Six Years. [Star Tribune, 3/13/08]

AS A RESULT OF PAWLENTY’S CUTS TO HIGHER EDUCATION, TUITION HAS INCREASE BY 60 PERCENT

Minnesota 2020 Economic Policy Fellow: Under Pawlenty, “State General Fund Support For Higher Education Has Declined By $521 Million… As A Result, Tuition Has Risen By A 60 Percent Real-Dollar Average Across Minnesota’s Higher Education Institutions.” [Lee Egerstrom op-ed, Bemidji Pioneer, 10/24/10]

2010: Pawlenty Proposed Cutting $47 Million From Higher Education, But Said He Would Have Liked To Cut More – And Claimed “They Got Off Relatively Easy Here.” [Star Tribune, 2/16/10]

2009: Pawlenty’s “Hit To Higher Education [Was] Big” When He Unilaterally Cut Minnesota’s Higher Education Budget By $100 Million. [Star Tribune, 6/16/09]

• University Of Minnesota President Called Pawlenty’s Proposed Cuts “Savage And Severe.” [Minnesota Public Radio, 5/16/09]

Photo: Shuttered building. Will there be a closing of the Minnesota mind?

Sustainable Farming Association chapter to meet in Clarks Grove on March 12

The Austin Herald reports in Local food focus of sustainable farming meeting:

After a three year study about land conservation and farming, Lansing Shepard and Paula Westmoreland are ready to share their findings with area farmers.

The Sustainable Farming Association holds its annual meeting March 12 in Clarks Grove and welcomes the two researchers.

Lansing has a background in writing and conservation, and Westmoreland is trained in permaculture — a farm design based on natural processes.

The public is welcome at 9 a.m. to listen to the findings. Together, the two researchers will present their findings from projects in the Blue Earth River basin, which were compiled into a recently published book: “This Perennial Land.” . . .

The calendar for the state's SFA notes that this is the South Central chapter's annual meeting and provides more details:

The meeting will start at 9 AM with registration followed by a short business meeting of the S. Central chapter that is open to the public. The rest of the morning will be devoted to the presentation by Lansing and Paula. A soup and bread lunch will precede the talk by Michael Cotter. The meeting will end with two sessions running at the same time. One of the two sessions will be devoted to information on government conservation programs lead by area conservationist, Jim Jirik. The other session, on marketing locally grown foods, will be led by S. Central Chapter member, Jill Louters, and a panel of other S. Central members.

This meeting is open to the public. Lunch is available for $5. The church where the meeting will be held can be found by traveling west from the I 35 exit for Clark Grove to 1st Ave. SE and going 2 blocks South on this street. For information call 507 256-4876.

 

Al picks Al: Franken hires Juhnke to handle agriculture

The turkeys in west central Minnesota thought they'd gotten rid of former state representative Al Juhnke, but he's back to serve agriculture, energy and environmental outreach in Minnesota.

From a press release via ECM Publishers, Sen. Franken hires former State Rep. Juhnke to handle agriculture, energy, environmental outreach in Minnesota:

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)  announced today (Wednesday, March 2) that he has hired former State Representative and chairman of a key House agriculture committee, Al Juhnke, to handle agriculture, energy and environmental outreach for him in Minnesota.

“Al Juhnke understands how important agriculture, energy, and the environment are to creating jobs and spurring economic development in Minnesota,” Sen. Franken said.  “He has spent years working closely with key Minnesota groups, stakeholders, and communities on these issues and knows how important they are to our state’s economy and its future. We’re all lucky to have him back in a role where he’s serving the people of Minnesota.” 

Juhnke, who served 14 years in the State Legislature, chaired the House Agriculture & Veterans Affairs Finance Committee.  He will be stationed in his hometown of Willmar, but will travel throughout Minnesota on Sen. Franken’s behalf.  

During his time in the State Legislature, Juhnke was recognized for his work on bio-fuels and renewable energy, helping make Minnesota a national leader in those areas.

Juhnke recently was recognized by the Minnesota Soybean Growers as their 2010 “Legislator of the Year” for his work during the last legislative session. Juhnke’s commitment to renewable energy is important to Sen. Franken as a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Known as @UncleAlJuhnke on twitter, Juhnke was known for his  Outstate News emails and a special affection for the turkey industry. Jennie-O, a division of Hormel, has its headquarters in his old district. Readers simply don't want to know how many turkeys live and die in the Willmar area.

Photos: Turkeys in a turkey barn (above); Al Juhnke (below).

Confluence: why the mayor of Minneapolis was a voice in Montevideo

What would bring a big-city mayor out to a small Minnesota River Valley town on a Saturday night in February?

What that prairie river signifies, meandering across the state from Big Stone Lake on the western border with South Dakota to its confluence near Fort Snelling south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minneapolis Mayor Rybak was a Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) Annual Meeting speaker on February 12 in Montevideo.

A bad cold kept me home; fortunately, John G. White, editor of the Clara City Herald, and Tom Cherveny, a staff writer for the West Central Tribune, cover the event, which drew around 300 people from across the region.

Cherveny reports in R.T. Rybak endorses local foods, clean water economy:

Those promoting a local foods and sustainable, agricultural economy as the way to clean water and a healthy landscape in the Upper Minnesota River Valley have a partner in the urban center of Minneapolis.

“We are part of two, big grassroots efforts that are about to meet in the center,’’ Mayor R. T. Rybak told a crowd of nearly 300 at the annual meeting for Clean Up our River Environment in Montevideo on Feb. 12.

Rybank [sic] applauded the efforts taking place in rural Minnesota. “The land is a mirror. It reflects back the values of those who love on top of it,’’ he said, adding: “I have to say that the land that you live on looks back and smiles, you do wonderful things but you have to keep up the work.’’

He pointed to efforts in Minneapolis as well to promote a local foods economy. He cited examples ranging from “Home Grown Minneapolis’’ which teaches young people how to raise and prepare their own foods to school lunch programs that feature foods from Minnesota farms.

Rybak said Minnesota needs to “reconnect’’ and redevelop the farm-to-town markets that existed when the state was first settled.

Go read the WCT article. In the article first published in the Clara City paper, White notes that Rybak and his wife, local food activist Megan O'Hara, sat with small town mayors:

He was seated at the “mayor’s table” with the mayors of Montevideo, Granite Falls, Watson and Belle Plaine, along with his wife, Megan, the Minneapolis mayor told a guest, “If we were back in Minneapolis at an event like this people would have been gone after two hours. This is just so comfortable.”

Two documentary filmmakers were the keynote speakers:

Keynoting the event were John Hickman and Jon Carlson, who are collaborating on  a documentary of “Working Together for the Minnesota River.” The two spoke of their challenges and successes in putting together the film and interviews that is scheduled to run as a series on Ron Schara’s Minnesota Bound in March and April.

That should be worth watching. CURE is a deeply social-and-legacy media savvy organization that gets it about statewide collaboration, as Bluestem noted in a post late last year, Montevideo's CURE wins $25,000 Bush Foundation collaboration grant.

One of the standard tropes inflicted upon rural voters by social conservatives is that somehow "rural values" exist in a Pale surrounding the Twin Cities; usually, these "rural' values seem to center on being afraid of someone else, and using that fear to punish.

CURE and other groups learning the lesson of the Minnesota River Valley can teach us all that maybe our economic and moral values are much more alike in terms of the future we can seek together, and that geography unites us--and a very pretty river runs through it.

Photos: Megan, Grace and RT Rybak meet some cattle on Prairie Horizons Farms (above); CURE's storefront in Montevideo (below).

Thumbs up, redux: Franken aide Charlie Poster to join Commissioner Frederickson at MDA

Back in November at the Minnesota Farmers Union annual convention, I captured this image of the "Three Amigos" of congressional agriculture staff in Minnesota: Dave Frederickson, then with Senator Klobuchar's office; Charlie Poster, with Senator Franken's office, and Matthew Wohlman, Congressman Walz's office. My friend Clara Sandburg, an administrative and farm intern at Dream of Wild Health, gave them the thumbs up.

Since then, Frederickson has become Governor Dayton's Commissioner of Agriculture, and Wohlman was appointed assistant commissioner.

Now word comes via Minnesota Farmers Union's Thom Petersen that Clara picked the trifecta.

Poster will be leaving Franken's office to join Frederickson and Wohlman in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Congratulations to all three--and to Governor Dayton for assembling such great talent for Minnesota's farmers.

Photo: Left to right, front: Dave Frederickson, Charlie Poster and Matthew Wohlman at the MFU banquet in November. Behind them, Clara Sandberg gives them the thumbs up. What did she know and when did she know it? Photo by Sally Jo Sorensen.

Land Stewardship Project one-act, "Look Who's Knockin'." explores retiring farmers' choice

Via Agrinews, comes word of a new Land Stewardship Project one-act play exploring the moral dilemma many retiring farmers face: sell their land to the highest bidder, or take a lower price from young people trying to get a foothold in farming.

Heather Thorstensen writes in Land Stewardship Project play focuses on moral dilemma:

Land Stewardship Project wants to get people talking about how to help new farmers get started.

"We've heard from a lot of young people who want to farm," said LSP staff member Doug Nopar. . . .

. . .LSP hopes to raise awareness of this problem by producing a new play, Look Who's Knockin'.

It's the story of a retiring farm couple, Gerald and Nettie, who face a moral dilemma: Do they sell their land for top dollar to the largest farm in the county or do they begin transitioning it to a young couple who wants to start a dairy farm?

The retiring farmers weresoil conservation pioneers in the 1940s. They worry the large farm won't continue their conservation efforts but they also know the young couple can't offer as much money.

The 30-40 minute, one-act play will be performed at eight locations from Feb. 17 to April 10 in southeast Minnesota. It will be followed by an hour-long community discussion. Organizers are lining up a panel of a beginning farmer and a retiring farmer at each venue.

This isn't an abstract issue for greater Minnesota. The inability of young people to become farmers in their own right creates a ripple effect throughout our communities. Locally-based farmers buy their inputs locally, send their kids to local schools, participate in local civic life. When only a few people farm, fewer people populate the countryside, and political power is lost with the population.

Readers can check out the play and join the conversation at the following dates and places:

What: Look Who's Knockin', a one-act play and community discussion

How much: Tickets are $5
Where: 
Feb. 17, 1:30 p.m. at Borromeo Catholic Church, St. Charles
Feb. 17, 7 p.m. Assisi Heights Spirituality Center, Rochester
Feb. 20,  Meal at 5 p.m. then performance at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Chatfield
Feb. 25, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., for participants of MOSES conference, La Crosse, Wis.
March 3, 7 p.m. St. Paul's UCC/ELCA Church, Lewiston
March 17, 1:30 p.m. Cross of Christ Lutheran Church, Houston
March 19, 7:30 p.m. Jon Hassler Theatre, Plainview
April 8, 7:30 p.m. The Crossings at Carnegie, Zumbrota
April 10, 2 p.m. Masonic Temple, Theatre du Mississippi, Winona 
For more info or to reserve a seat: (507) 523-3366   dnopar@landstewardshipproject.org

In the era of don't tell, don't ask for earmarks, Schomacker bill tells delegation to fund Lewis & Clark Rural Water project

It's no secret that Bluestem is a big fan of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project for southwest Minnesota and nearby corners of Iowa and South Dakota. For years, I been posting approvingly of the earmarks that Walz, Minnesota's Senators and conservative Republicans like Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Steve King (R-IA) have requested.

The issue hit my radar back in February 2008 when the Bush administration didn't fund the project, and Congressman Walz stepped up with an earmark request. The concept of "earmark" gets demogogued because of "bridges to nowhere" but with proper oversight and restrictions, earmarks can make the federal appropriation process more responsive to genuine needs for public infrastructure.

The Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project is a good example of the way in which earmarks can be a good thing. Minnpost staff writer Derek Wallbank called Minnesota's list of earmarks "just plain boring."

Not that everybody approves of earmarks. A front group, the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, rabblerouses on earmarks. It whined:

While many earmark requests will ultimately be rejected by Congress, dozens will receive your tax dollars. In 2010, the Minnesota delegation boasted 102 earmarks that cost taxpayers more than $68 million, a figure that soars far higher after adding in joint earmarks with members from other states, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

And the Allen Quist campaign was particularly snippy about Congressman Walz's unprecedented transparent, public process for earmark requests within the district.

And it looks like those who wanted a "Don't Tell, Don't Ask" policy on earmarks have gotten their way.

However boring and necessary potable water and Highway 14 improvements may be, there won't be any earmarks for them this year. Will Obama budget for these sorts of projects?

USA Today reports in Senate Democrat bans earmarks in spending bills that, like President Obama and House Republicans, the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee has decided to go with the rhetoric:

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee said he will impose a ban on earmarks, joining President Obama and congressional Republicans in trying to eliminate funding for special projects requested by lawmakers.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Democrat who has requested millions of dollars in earmarks for his home state of Hawaii, announced the surprise move today.

Last week, Obama said he would veto any bill that comes to him containing the congressionally directed projects.

"The handwriting is clearly on the wall," Inouye said in a statement. "Given the reality before us, it makes no sense to accept earmark requests that have no chance of being enacted into law."

Inouye said the Appropriations Committee, which allocates federal funding, will send back any earmark requests.

Obama's veto threat, made during the State of the Union Address on Jan. 25, was dismissed by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid as "pretty talk." The majority leader also complained it gave the president too much power.

Members of the congressional appropriations committees have long held the view that Congress holds the purse strings and should have a say in how federal funds are spent. House Republicans, following their election victories in November, have already accepted a moratorium on earmarks. . . .

With the bans in place, local leaders cannot tell Walz what they'd like to see included in appropriation bills--nor can the public review the requests, via the process created last year--and Walz can't ask. Think of it as a "Don't Tell, Don't Ask" policy.

Thus, while I fully approve of funding the Lewis & Clark Project, I was surprised to find that Joe Schomacker, newly-minted Minnesota Representative from Luverne, is chief author of a bill telling the state's congressional delegation to fund the project.

H.F. 184 requires Secretary of State Ritchie to:

prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States,
the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.

Walz and the others, however, can't ask for an earmark. Lovely. Will voters ask political consultant Schomacker why his party supports banning earmarks, rather than reforming the process so their voices can be honored in Washington? Or will this just be the funding process that dare not speak its name?

Update: Schomacker published a letter in the Worthington Globe yesterday, lamenting that the project has been labeled an earmark, though not explaining the history of the Bush Administration zeroing out the project, nor the impact of the Republican-led earmark ban. Nice touches from a guy who was once the First Congressional Republican field organizer. Silence is loud.

MN Ag Commish Frederickson appoints Matthew Wohlman as Assistant Commissioner

One of the many talented and thoughtful young people working on Congressman Walz's staff, Matt Wohlman, is joining Governor Dayton's staff as an assistant commissioner of agriculture. Congratulations to Matt, whom I consider a terrific research for agriculture and a cheerful friend.

Like my ag fanatic friend Clara (right), I give Wohlman a thumbs up.

The press release from the Dayton administration:

Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) Commissioner Dave Frederickson today announced the appointment of Matthew Wohlman as Assistant Commissioner.  Wohlman’s responsibilities at MDA will include oversight of the department’s regulatory activities.

Wohlman owns and operates a fifth-generation family farming operation based in Renville County.  He has worked as the outreach director for Minnesota Congressman Tim Walz since 2007.  From his office in Mankato, Wohlman served as the lead outreach staffer for agriculture, transportation, appropriations, renewable energy, financial services and rural economic development issues in the district.  He conducted outreach activities to maintain and strengthen relationships with community leaders, constituents and organizations.

Prior to working for Congressman Walz, Wohlman worked from 2003 to 2006 as a legislative assistant for State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon, and as an intern for U.S. Senator Mark Dayton from 2001 to 2003.  Wohlman earned an undergraduate degree in animal science from the University of Minnesota, and a master’s degree in advocacy and political leadership from the University of Minnesota Duluth.  He currently serves on the University of Minnesota Extension Citizen Advisory Board, and on the board of directors for the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Sciences Alumni Society.

Commissioner Frederickson said he is pleased to add Wohlman to the department’s management team.

“Matthew brings a great combination of experience and training to this position,” Commissioner Frederickson said.  “He has been working directly with Minnesota farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders on important issues, and he has a track record of helping our stakeholders find solutions to shared challenges.  I am happy to welcome him to the department.”

Wohlman will assume his duties on Monday, January 24.  He will be responsible for overseeing regulatory divisions including the MDA’s Dairy and Food Inspection Division, Pesticide and Fertilizer Management Division and Plant Protection Division.

“I am honored to have this opportunity to serve at MDA,” Wohlman said.  “I look forward to working with Commissioner Frederickson and his staff, and to do our part to help Minnesota’s farmers and ranchers continue to produce the safest and most abundant food supply in the world.”

Photo: Matt Wohlman (right) and two other ag guys get a thumbs up from Clara Sandberg at the Minnesota Farmers Union convention after-banquet auction in November. Commissioner Frederickson is on the left. Charlie Poster (center) is an agriculture staffer for Senator Franken. Who knew Bluestem would get this much mileage from one MFU convention photo?

Press release: Minnesota Farmers Union sets 2011 legislative priorities

I'm an active member of the Minnesota Farmers Union. Here's the family-farmers' group's agenda for the session:

With grassroots input from its farmer-membership, Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) has set priorities for the 2011 legislative session.

“This legislative session will be about the state’s budget shortfalls and how we improve the economy and create jobs,” said Doug Peterson, MFU President. “MFU will be at the table when proposed cuts are being discussed to address the over $6 billion budget deficit, and will work with the Dayton Administration and legislators on addressing property tax concerns, promoting local foods, and energy legislation, and ensuring that the needs of rural Minnesotans and the farming sector are addressed.”

Agriculture makes up a very small part of the state’s budget, yet somewhere between 20-30% of the jobs and wealth in Minnesota are agriculture-related. MFU will work to ensure sound funding for food safety, energy, education, livestock, sustainable and organic programs.

These are just some of the issues MFU will be working on in the 2011 legislative session. Also, these are the issues MFU members will be talking to legislators about when they head to the state Capitol on Thursday, February 8, 2011, for their annual lobby day. For more information, go to www.mfu.org.

Minnesota Farmers Union (www.mfu.org) is a nonprofit membership-based organization working to protect and enhance the economic interests and quality of life of family farmers and ranchers, as well as rural communities.