Bluestem Prairie has often been puzzled by Browns' Valley Republican state representative Jeff Backer's blaming the 2015 and 2016 buffer bills on Evil Metro lawmakers like Jean Wagenius. It's baffling because he voted for it both times.
We reviewed this conundrum in Republican guy who voted for Minnesota's buffer bill continues to grandstand against it and Alternative facts: Backer trolls gov with absurd analogy about metro congestion, water quality.
Fortunately, Backer constituent and fan Zach Mensinger, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota at Morris who specializes in such things as "Inorganic metal hydroxide clusters, Group 13 metals, acetylene cross coupling, supramolecular chemistry, Alzheimer's disease, polyoxometalates, neurodegenerative disease, prions, [and] atomic force microscopy," cuts through the fog created when Backer's rhetoric and voting record collide.
It's a marvel to watch the consequences of Jeff's discourse spread out across the prairie at dusk.
In Backer must continue to support buffers, a letter to the editor of the Morris Sun Tribune, Mensinger lays out the case:
Thank you, Rep. Jeff Backer, for your courageous votes in favor of the "buffer bill" in 2015 and 2016, and for your work on the conference committee that worked out the final details of the bill that ultimately became law. While buffer rules have been in place for decades in Minnesota, I'm glad Rep. Backer supported efforts to give these rules some much needed updates and teeth in order to start cleaning up some of the 40 percent of Minnesota waters that are impaired for conventional pollutants.
I support Rep. Backer's work on this issue to put the "little guy" ahead of big-money interests, some of which are doubtless the same groups who successfully fought for (bought?) the elimination of the MPCA Citizen's Board, formerly our most direct citizen representation in such matters. The majority of us in Morris, Stevens County, and Greater Minnesota want clean water to drink, increased habitat for game and wildlife, and clean lakes and streams for fishing and recreation.
However, based on Rep. Backer's recent letter to the editor, I worry that he has started to fall under the influence of the monied minority voice and might be wavering in his support for clean water. His introduction of HF 683, that would delay the implementation of the buffer bill by two years, further suggests this. Instead of this flip-flop, I hope Rep. Backer will continue to stand up for the majority of his constituents instead of those few who would put profit before clean water and support the buffer bill he had a hand in crafting and voted for.
Perhaps he could even examine options for stronger, more comprehensive bills that would go further toward ensuring access to the clean water that farmers, hunters, anglers, and all of us will depend on for generations to come. If you, like me, want clean water to drink, I encourage you to call Rep. Backer at 651-296-4929 or email him at [email protected] and encourage him to support clean water in Minnesota and withdraw HF 683, so we can live up to our name - Land of Sky Blue Waters. Land of Toxic Green and Brown Waters just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Solid advice for all of us who are Backer's constituents who want clean water. Keep those calls and emails coming!
Photo: Rep. Jeff Backer, the hero of the environment, must not be led astray from his record of supporting buffers laws. Please contact him and let him know his votes for the 2015 and 2016 buffers laws are appreciated.
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