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Loon Commons: The MEP Blog
A forum for current and emerging environmental and conservation issues in Minnesota.

Archive for the 'Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment' Category

Bring resolutions for clean water and clean energy to your precinct caucus Tuesday!

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Minnesota’s precinct caucuses are Tuesday! If you have never attended a caucus before, you should know that precinct caucuses provide an opportunity to get involved with the party of your choice, get to know your neighbors, and talk about issues that are important to you and your community.

All caucuses are at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7. Find your precinct caucus on the Secretary of State’s website.

Precinct Caucuses Launch the Election Season
Major parties are required by law to hold precinct caucuses on “caucus night,” as set by the Secretary of State. Each party determines its own procedures.

Everyone who lives within a voting precinct and is a qualified voter (or will be by the next election) can participate in one party’s precinct caucus in any one year. (Precinct = local voting district) (more…)

You’re invited! Join us at our Legislative & Policy Forum Wednesday evening

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Minnesota Environmental Partnership’s
16th Annual Legislative and Policy Reception & Forum

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012
6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. program
Summit Brewery: 910 Montreal Circle,  Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102

Register online

Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 8, to network with state policy makers and volunteers and staff of MEP’s member organizations, discuss our legislative priorities, and hear from our state legislative and agency leaders about their views on current environmental issues. (more…)

Act now for clean energy and good jobs in 2012

Thursday, January 26th, 2012
From Patience Caso, MEP campaign director, and Eric Bergstrom, legislative and campaign outreach

Welcome to the 2012 legislative session! You care about Minnesota’s Great Outdoors and you believe in making and safeguarding investments for future generations. Your voice is critical to protecting and defending our environmental policy foundation — your elected officials need to hear from you.

This year, we’re counting on you to join the members of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and advocate for: (more…)

T! M! D! L! What’s that spell?!

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Imagine a squad of cheerleaders shouting out “Give me a T”, and the spectators calling back en masse, “T!!!” And then give them an “M”…and a “D”…and finally a “L”.

The spectators look confused. School spirit is suddenly stunningly low. (more…)

Tell your elected officials: No Legacy funds for a stadium

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Back in 2008, 1.6 million Minnesotans voted to pass the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. When polled after the 2008 vote, the majority of voters said that cleaning up and protecting Minnesota’s lakes, rivers and streams was the No. 1 reason they voted YES to pass the amendment. The next highest reason was to support ALL the components of the Amendment – water, outdoor habitat, parks and trails, and arts and culture. (Learn more about the Amendment here.)

Overall, the Legacy Amendment was established to ensure there would be long-term funding for these causes, and that the Legacy funds would not replace traditional (though recently fading) government funding for the arts and the outdoors.

Now, some Republican legislators want to divert Legacy money, specifically the arts and cultural heritage money, to help fund a new Vikings Stadium. There are nonprofits and community organizations across the state that rely on Legacy funding. The notion that Legacy money would be taken from these organizations and given to the for-profit business owners of the Vikings is shameful – and is definitely not what voters had in mind when they passed the Legacy Amendment. (more…)

AUDIO: Legacy money for a stadium? That’s ridiculous!

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Steve Morse joined radio host Nancy Nelson Tuesday, Nov. 1, on AM950 to discuss the idea (supported by some Republican leaders) that it’s OK to use Legacy Amendment funds to pay for a new Vikings stadium.

In part one, Steve and Nancy delve into the background of the proposal:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(more…)

How should Legacy money be used to clean up our water?

Thursday, October 6th, 2011
[Check out this previous post to hear Steve discuss these issues on AM950 Radio.]

Minnesotans expect our leaders to do more to clean up and restore our lakes, rivers and streams – Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment in 2008 to do just that! But is that money being used effectively?

Our state has a long way to go in cleaning up our water, and preventing future pollution.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that about 40% of Minnesota’s lakes and streams that they’ve tested are categorized as polluted. That means these waters don’t meet basic health standards for swimming or fishing – and definitely not drinking. What’s even more disturbing is that most of our lakes and rivers have yet to be tested! There is clearly more work that needs to be done to test these lakes to figure out where important clean-up work is most needed. (more…)

AUDIO: Steve Morse discusses agriculture and water pollution on AM950

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Steve Morse joined radio host Nancy Nelson Tuesday, Oct. 4, on AM950 to discuss Legacy Amendment funds for cleaning up our water, and how water pollution is tied to agriculture.

Listen to their conversation by clicking play below.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(more…)

2011 Session in Review

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

So what happened this past legislative session? Here’s our brief overview:

State Budget

Defending traditional sources of funding for our Great Outdoors was a significant part of MEP’s work at the Capitol this year. (more…)

New improved budget bill still worrisome for Minnesota’s Great Outdoors

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

The new compromise environment budget bill is an improvement over the budget-gutting bill originally put forth by the legislature and later vetoed by the governor, but even in this improved bill, our concerns remain:

Disproportionate cuts:

Although we are grateful that overall state general fund spending has increased for our Great Outdoors compared to the legislature’s proposals, funding to protect our lakes, rivers, streams, habitat and parks is still severely cut. (more…)

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Some photos courtesy of David-Lorne Photographic, Copyright 2000.
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This site is sponsored by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP), a coalition of over 80 conservation and environmental organizations working together to protect our Great Outdoors. As a nonprofit public policy 501(c)3 organization , MEP does not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. MEP encourages informed and open discussion of environmental issues on LoonCommons.org. However, views expressed on this blog may not necessarily be the views of MEP or its member organizations.

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