UPDATE: The bill has passed:
#mnhouse passes HF3280 78-45, to nullify the state’s 45-year-old wild rice water quality sulfate standard and require the MPCA to adopt a new rule. The bill now goes to the Senate. #mnleg pic.twitter.com/kM8XzQfUj2
— MNHouseInfo (@MNHouseInfo) April 23, 2018
We'll post a video of the full debate when it's available.
Here's an unofficial roll call:
Bill passes 78-45. We're very disappointed in this result and we'll keep working with our partners across the state to highlight the science and the good reasons we need to protect Minnesota's wild rice and clean water from sulfate pollution. #mnleg pic.twitter.com/xMY2I5GTOg
— MCEA (@MCEA1974) April 23, 2018
"We need to understand and accept the current knowledge that we have" about mercury, says Rep. Lueck. Again, you can read the actual research and the findings of the ALJ that Fabian & Lueck continue to cite approvingly. Here's one snippet #mnleg pic.twitter.com/O4MhSiaPU3
— MCEA (@MCEA1974) April 23, 2018
Thanks @peggyflanagan for clearly speaking the unspoken impacts of this misguided and unjust proposal #mnleg #trampledByLegislators https://t.co/KbwZGhsHkW
— Steve Morse (@sjemorse) April 23, 2018
END UPDATE
The movement in the Minnesota Legislature to protect water pollution and its creators will take another step forward this afternoon when the House takes a vote on HF3280, Lueck's bill to gut state's wild rice water standards.
Opposed by conservationists, environmentalists, tribal Minnesotans and other common sense folks who care for science, the bill is supported by mining interests, municipal wastewater treatment operators and legislators from both parties. The later have claimed in committee that by destroying the standards, they will save wild rice.
We've written about the issue in posts like these:
MPCA commish letter lays out objections to bills gutting Wild Rice Water Quality Standards
MN House Omnibus Environment and Natural Resources bill continues war on wild rice
Does Rep. Bliss know? Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe opposes bills gutting wild rice protection
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported in Politics of wild rice heats up at the Minnesota Capitol:
No one knows, but this latest attempt to nullify Minnesota's standard could come up for floor votes in the House and Senate soon. If it passes, Gov. Mark Dayton would have to decide whether to sign or veto it.
It's also possible we'll see political maneuvering up until the end of session on this issue. Supporters say if the bill becomes law, municipalities and businesses will not have to worry about making expensive technology upgrades to their water treatment systems. But MPCA officials say nullifying the rule would violate federal law, making way for lawsuits.
We thought of today's vote while reading Aaron Brown's Stewart Mills offers surprising analysis on mining:
. . . Mills said many people he knew approached him during his political appearances at hunters’ suppers and fishing events. These were conservative people disinclined to vote for Democrats. Nevertheless, they didn’t want to foul up Northern Minnesota waters, especially wetlands that provided habitat for ducks or lakes that supported trophy fish.
Further, Mills argues that the number of votes that are “gettable” for Republicans on the Iron Range lags behind the number of votes that could be lost if things go wrong.
Now that I have turned the corner on political life and have assumed the mantle of a political and policy commentator, I have shifted to a more objective viewpoint. I still maintain it should ultimately be left up to the Iron Rangers themselves to decide, but as water flows so do opinions and political constituencies. The political reality is it’s not a local issue as there are many real downstream stake holders, and many more voluntary stake holders who are conservationists, environmentalist, outdoorsmen, or even concerned folks who visited the Boundary Waters once upon a time. . . .
Anti-clean-water votes might just not be the winners the Republican Farmer Labor Caucus imagine they are--and CD08 DLFers learned last weekendat their convention just how a pro-mining stance no longer guarantees an endorsement. We'll have more on a similar backlash against farmers non-stop whine against clean water protection.
Readers can watch the floor debate on Lueck's bill, as well as several other bills, here, at 1:00 p.m. Central.
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