This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:

“Of a romantic and jovial disposition, he was not at all averse to playing the part assigned him in this little drama.”
-Dr. William Folwell*

As we celebrate Minnesota’s 150th birthday this week, it is worth reflecting on why we are celebrating it in the capital city of St. Paul.  The above quote from the renowned Minnesota historian, Dr. William Folwell, was describing the role played by fur trader and territorial legislator, Joseph Rolette Jr., back in 1857 in preventing the removal of the state Capitol from St. Paul to St. Peter.  As our territorial government proceeded toward statehood, several of the agricultural-minded interests wanted the state Capitol in a location more central to the prairie.

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Late Thursday, Governor Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have established an improved system for recycling and disposing of used paint. With support from some in the paint industry, the bill (S.F. 3775) would have created a paint stewardship fee to support proper management of the used paint. The Governor’s veto message essentially called the fee a new tax. The vetoed legislation capped the fee at 40 cents per container. Disposal of used paint costs governments in Minnesota over $5 million annually. The tax already exists, but it’s hidden.

By J. Drake Hamilton, science policy director, Fresh Energy

On May 9, 2008, two administrative law judges recommended that Minnesota regulators deny permission to construct and operate power lines across west-central Minnesota from the proposed Big Stone II coal plant on the South Dakota-Minnesota border. (more…)

Watch video from hearings on the Minnesota Clean Cars Act (SF 481 and HF 863) in the Minnesota Senate Business, Industry and Jobs Committee. (more…)

The rationale for the Governor’s veto is as interesting as the veto itself. Pawlenty declared in his veto letter that “the legislative mandate overreaches and goes beyond current scientific research.”

It’s a health protection and sustainable business opportunity lost. The science is clear that this compound is problematic for human health and the environment.

As food riots in places like Haiti and Egypt are reminding us, there are many, many hungry people in the world. Supporters of industrialized agriculture have argued for years that the only way to feed billions of mouths is by raising crops and livestock in large-scale specialized systems reliant on petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. Diversified agricultural systems—organic in particular—are a luxury the world can ill afford at a time when the population has surpassed six billion people, say scientists like Nobel Prize-winning plant breeder Norman Borlaug. John Emsley, a chemist at Cambridge University, has called organic farming “the greatest catastrophe that the human race could face,” according to World Watch magazine. Ouch. Well at least the good professor doesn’t beat around the bush. The basis for such sharp criticism is that organic crop production, for example, simply cannot produce high yields because it relies on natural sources of fertility such as animal manure. But a lot of false assumptions and lack of data are the basis for such arguments. (more…)

By Michael Noble, executive director, Fresh Energy

Randy Udall is a legend among clean energy advocates, some say a legend in his own mind. (more…)

This week’s update from lobbyist John Tuma:

Judith Naughton Ireland … “a deeply religious woman, gentle, dedicated to her church and the care of her family.”*

On Sunday May 11th, Minnesota will reach its 150th birthday, interestingly enough, on Mother’s Day.  In recognition of this historic coincidence, it is worth reflecting on one of Minnesota’s most influential mothers, Judith Naughton Ireland.  Judith was a simple immigrant with roots from Kilkenny, Ireland, where she met and married a widowed carpenter named Richard Ireland.  In the midst of the Irish potato famines in 1849, they mournfully departed their homeland and sailed to the United States with their six children and the four orphaned children of Richard’s sister.  The family eventually worked their way across America by covered wagon and steamboat to arrive at the Jackson Street Levy outside of St. Paul in 1852.  Devoutly Catholic, they were welcomed in the once bustling fur trading town with many French Catholic connections.

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This summer, Minnesota families who want to know if their favorite Minnesota lake is clean enough for swimming and eating fish caught in that lake have an easy way to find out – www.CheckMyLake.org.

Powered by Conservation Minnesota, the new website is a user-friendly way that Minnesotans can find out whether their favorite lakes are clean or polluted – or haven’t been tested yet. The site relies on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)’s database but makes the information easy to access and comprehend.

By going to http://www.checkmylake.org, the website’s users can either type in the name of a favorite lake or type in a county name and choose from among a list to find out whether lakes have been tested and what the results show.

According to the MPCA, nearly half of lakes tested are polluted. More troubling, for every lake MPCA has tested, there are 4 more that the agency hasn’t tested.

Legislators protest Gates family’s stake in Big Stone II

Check out this posting on Grist by Ted Nace from May 4, 2008.