North Mankato wasn't the only governmental loser in the opinions of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday.
As Tom Cherveny reports for the West Central Tribune in Minnesota Court of Appeals rules Renville County's Limbo Creek will require environmental assessment worksheet, sunny Renville County was also punched down.
Here's the newspaper's tweet of the article along with a great photo of Olivia City Council Member and environmental watchdog Tom Kalahar:
Minnesota Court of Appeals rules Renville County's Limbo Creek will require environmental assessment worksheet https://t.co/TDjikL6DvV
— West Central Tribune (@wctrib) October 4, 2021
At the Star Tribune, environmental news staffer Jennifer Bjorhus reports Court decision affirming Limbo Creek is not a ditch could affect waterways across Minnesota.
Our friends at CURE tweeted that article, with a succinct condensation of the news:
Limbo Creek is a public water! This ruling may influence the fate of other river and creek segments throughout Minnesota. #WaterIsLifehttps://t.co/eDYd6yZSuO
— CURE (@CUREriver) October 5, 2021
After reading the decision (embedded below), we enjoyed these tweets from one of the plaintiffs, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA). We recommend reader click on and watch the video:
Limbo Creek is the last free-flowing stream in Renville County & we've been working with local residents for years to protect it. Learn more about the work and why it matters - for erosion, water quality and the health of the Minnesota River. We're thrilled to celebrate this win! pic.twitter.com/HQdTVlp6Sk
— @MCEA1974 (@MCEA1974) October 4, 2021
BREAKING: MCEA and our client Protecting Public Waters win on all fronts in the Limbo Creek case decided by the Court of Appeals. Limbo Creek is a protected public water and this precedent means any drainage project that affects a public water requires environmental review. pic.twitter.com/iOIJR8v5UD
— @MCEA1974 (@MCEA1974) October 4, 2021
Some highlights rom the articles at the West Central Tribune and the Star Tribune. Cherveny reports:
The court also agreed with the environmental groups that an environmental assessment worksheet is mandatory for a project in Limbo Creek. An environmental assessment worksheet is mandatory when a proposed project “will change or diminish the course, current, or cross-section of one acre or more of any public water,” the court noted.
The Renville County Board of Commissioners, acting as the ditch authority, approved a project in November 2020 to excavate a 5,560-linear-foot-channel into Limbo Creek at the outlet of County Ditch 77. Petitioned for by landowners in 2017, the project originally carried an estimated cost of $699,880. The commissioners rejected a request to perform an environmental assessment worksheet for the project as asked by the project opponents.
Renville County Ditch 77 by West Central Tribune
. . .While not directly addressed in this decision, the finding that Limbo Creek is a public water suggests that Renville County will need a permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a project in it. The DNR has repeatedly told Renville County it considers Limbo Creek a public water and that a permit would be required for work. Renville County has challenged the DNR on whether the state agency has the authority to require a permit, and that matter remains pending in the courts.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and co-litigant Protecting Public Waters were supported with court filings by Clean Up the River Environment, Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River, Friends of the Minnesota Valley, Izaak Walton League, Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance, the Minnesota Conservation and Federation and Sever Peterson.
. . .The decision, released Monday, is a victory for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which challenged the county's decision not to do an environmental review.
It could also influence the fate of other river and creek segments scattered around the state that were accidentally marked as ditches on public waters inventory maps years ago. The mistake affects some 500 waterways, and is something the DNR has been seeking to correct.
Elise Larson, a lawyer at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said the appellate decision makes it clear that if a waterway meets the definition of public waterway, then it can't be dredged, drained, ditched or dammed without evaluating the impact and getting a permit from the DNR.
"Really this case is just asking the county to do what any other person who deals with public waters has to do," Larson said.
The DNR and Renville County have sued each other over the Limbo Creek matter in Renville County District Court. That litigation, which has been on hold, is separate from the appeals court decision, but could be influenced by it.
The DNR did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Limbo Creek is one of the last largely unaltered waterways in heavily farmed Renville County. It empties into the Minnesota River, which the state has struggled unsuccessfully for many decades to clean up. Like many other tributaries, the creek carries sediment and farm chemicals into the Minnesota River, along with growing volumes of water flowing off fields that farmers have tiled for drainage, leading to erosion.
The Minnesota River is a major source of pollutants in the Mississippi River.
Olivia City Council Member Tom Kalahar, a retired Renville County Soil and Water Conservation District technician, applauded the decision. He said the case pulls back the curtain on little-watched agricultural drainage decisions, which he sees as crucial to protecting water quality in the state.
"Without a change in the water drainage rules we don't have prayer of saving the Minnesota River," Kalahar said.
Kalahar said he thinks an environmental review will show that the ditch project in Limbo Creek's upper reaches will do even more harm to the endangered Minnesota River.
He also said the decision will send a message to other drainage authorities in the state.
"I think it's going to be really hard for drainage authorities … just to have their way like they've always had," he said. "I think it's going to embolden other folks to say 'Hey, enough is enough.' "
Here's the decision itself:
In the Matter of: Petition of MCEA for Commencement of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
As someone who was born in Mankato, the confluence of the Blue Earth and Minnesota Rivers--then moved to the watershed of the Upper River, we're happy with the decision. Enough is indeed enough.
Photo: This October 2020 photo shows Limbo Creek as it flows south under County Road 10, southwest of Sacred Heart in Renville County. Brian Peterson/Star Tribune.
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