By this time, it's an article of faith among Minnesota Republicans and their Agenda-21-hating, tea-bagging kindred that the Environmental Quality Board (population two staffers) is the hand-picked instrument of Alida Messinger and DFL overreach to take over the world, and no yeomen farmers, small or big business types or gentlemen conservatives allowed.
Heckova frame.
Thus, Bluestem was not surprised to read in today's Worthington Globe that EGB chair and Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Dave Frederickson was in the sunny Nobles County seat yesterday meeting with a VW vanload of dirty hippies farmers, hunters and outdoors enthusiasts. This despite the weekend blizzard that piled it high and deep in Southwest Minnesota.
The Daily Globe's veteran ag staff writer Julie Buntjer writes in Environmental policy debated:
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said Monday he “got a really good sense of what farmers are thinking” following the fourth of six planned public hearings offered across the state to gather input on environmental policy.Monday’s hearing in Worthington was the only meeting planned in southwest Minnesota — and was the meeting most likely to draw a strong contingent of crop and livestock producers. Farmers weren’t the only ones at the table however. In fact, a quick electronic survey showed the room was divided nearly equally between rural residents and those living in small towns.
Dozens of individuals representing city and county government, watersheds and conservation services and outdoor interests had ample time to share their concerns about everything from water quantity and quality to regulations on production agriculture and availability of public lands for hunting.
The hearings are being conducted by the Environmental Quality Board at the request of Gov. Mark Dayton in hopes of getting a sense of future direction for the state’s policies as they relate to land, water, air, energy and climate. Frederickson is chair of the EQB.
And how did Frederickson, former president of the National Farmers Union and agricultural advisor to Senator Klobuchar, respond to that?
He seemed downright jolly:
The hearings are being conducted by the Environmental Quality Board at the request of Gov. Mark Dayton in hopes of getting a sense of future direction for the state’s policies as they relate to land, water, air, energy and climate. Frederickson is chair of the EQB.
“The theme that sort of came out of the discussion today was, ‘Get out of my way, I’m doing a pretty good job. If you can get the regulation off my back, we’ll do just fine,’” Frederickson surmised. “I appreciate that. I’m glad much of that came through today, because I suspect we’ll hear other issues as we travel throughout the state.”
With three meetings completed before the stop in Worthington, Frederickson said he’s heard a range of issues already — issues as diverse as the state itself. In Rochester, there was much discussion on the mining of silica sand; in Duluth, non-ferrous mining seemed to dominate the discussion; and in the Twin Cities, the discussion focused broadly on environmental issues.
With the final hearings scheduled Wednesday in St. Cloud and Friday in Moorhead, Frederickson anticipates collecting input on other issues — especially water management in Moorhead because of flooding issues there.
Buntjer illustrates one table's discussion, then reviews the material drawn from all of the small groups:
. . .Following the small group discussions, a recap was given from each table to get a sense for the broad range of issues.
In response to the first question about quality of life, concerns included sediment in lakes, drainage tile, overregulation, agriculture being blamed for environmental problems, energy efficiency, water quality and quantity, invasive species, impact of pesticides and herbicides, water consumption, storm water management and landfill use.
The second question, which asked people to envision a better scenario given the concerns noted in Question 1, yielded answers ranging from removing politics and working from a common sense approach to educating and engaging people early and balancing the need for agriculture with protection of our natural resources.
Actions proposed to address the concerns again varied greatly between tables. There were requests for more local and state efforts to control invasive species like zebra mussels and Asian carp, a request to allow haying of Conservation Reserve Program land, and a request to use sound science — and to use the carrot versus the stick.
One table asked that the state promote funding and resources for lakes in southwest Minnesota, giving them the value and concern that lakes elsewhere in the state receive; while another table requested that agriculture be represented at the table when decisions are made. . . .
This is a far cry from the predictions that we reviewed in Steve Drazkowski sends scary email about extremists hijacking EQB citizen forums; Scary MN: John Rouleau sees first DFL 2012 victory overreach in order issued Nov. 16.....2011 and Scary MN: Representative-elect Jim Newberger totally freaks about EQB & Citizens Forums.
Nonetheless, we don't recommend betting the farm on the notion that the facts of what's happening at Citizen Forum across the state get in the way of a few talking points.
Photo: EQB chair, Minnesota Ag Commissioner and pretty good guy, Dave Frederickson.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar. If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though Christmas.
Comments