March 26, 2011

This week included the first day of spring, the latest snow storm, and the consideration and action on many, many budget bills from the Minnesota House and the Senate!

Late this week the House Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee and the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee passed out their versions of the omnibus budgets for the Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, and other parts of state agencies and divisions. (more…)

March 19, 2011

It was a very pleasant week in terms of weather and temperature here in Capitol City. A lot of snow has melted and the wetlands, lakes, and rivers are rising! The action at the Capitol is also rising as the two bodies race toward their budget deadline dates of next week.

This was a week of ‘mergers’ as the two environmental finance bills were unveiled. Included in these “money” bills are a number of “bad bills” that we have listed below. These bad policy bills have had hearings and/or discussion in committee but now have new life as part of the bigger budget bill. (more…)

Audubon Minnesota

At the LCCMR meeting on March 14, 2011 the Breeding Bird Atlas got about 60% of the “part a” funding ($142,000 of a former $228,000) and zero for the “part b” funding to NRRI (of $102,000 formerly). (more…)

March 11, 2011

As we “spring ahead” this weekend the legislature is moving forward on a number of bad environmental bills. This past week a number of bills of concern to the MEP and its members received more debate, committee hearings, and floor action. They include:

Nuclear Power Plant Moratorium Lifting:

The first meeting of the conference committee meeting met today in an attempt to resolve the differences in SF4/HF9. (more…)

March 4, 2011

Another busy week at the 2011 legislative session. Committee and floor action continue daily regarding major environmental issues and bills. This past week a number of bills of concern to the MEP and its members received more debate, committee hearings, and floor action. They include:

Streamlining of Environmental Review:

On Monday the House agreed to the changes in HF1, re-passed it, and sent it off to the Governor for his review and action. This action set off a rapid fire action alert of emails, calls, and other social network contacts to the Governor’s office asking him to veto the bill! (more…)

Feb. 26, 2011

The busy 2011 legislative session continues. The Governor has presented his budget and committees are beginning to take a long and hard look at his numbers and their impacts on programs and projects. Committee and floor action continue daily regarding major environmental issues and bills. This past week a number of bills of concern to the MEP and its members received more debate, committee hearings, and floor action. They include:

Streamlining of Environmental Review: (more…)

Feb. 19, 2011

Another busy week at the 2011 legislative session! Committee and floor action continue daily regarding major environmental issues and bills. This past week a number of bills of concern to the MEP and its members received more debate, committee hearings and floor action. They include:

Environmental Review and Permitting:

HF1, authored by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau), passed the Minnesota House. (more…)

John Tuma’s Capitol Update – Summer Edition, August 13, 2010

“You go tell your boss that I’ve got a loaded .30-.30 Winchester sitting in the corner of this cabin, and the next person in a uniform who steps on my dock is going to get blown into the lake.”

- Benny Ambrose, April 3, 1963*

In the early 1960s as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota took its next major step toward a wilderness designation, Dorothy Molter and Benny Ambrose found themselves at the center of a brewing storm.  A faction of local citizens unhappy with the federal intrusion and land use restrictions elevated Molter and Ambrose to folk hero status.  Neither of them looked for this battle with the federal government, nor were they looking for the notoriety.  They just wanted to live out their years in the wilderness they loved.

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“This afternoon we will take the Skyline Trail, the trail that more than any other gives us a feeling of distance and space.  Vistas of wilderness will be ours, frozen swamps and lakes and winding trails through the woods.  Along that trail towards sunset the light effects are more striking than anywhere else, for here the whole country lies before us.”

- Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness, 1956

Sigurd Olson is a giant in Minnesota’s conservation history as one of the leading voices during the mid-1900s for the preservation of wild places like our beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park.  He was also a literary acclaimed writer, penning his classic, The Singing Wilderness, in 1956, a must-read for any environmental activist.  So respected was Olson that his likeness is one of only a few busts displayed within our State Capitol.  It seems almost providential that Olson’s bust stands guard to Capitol Committee Room 107 where most of the Senate environment and conservation issues are addressed. 

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John Tuma’s Capitol Update for May 18, 2010

“I rolled off the pony in a heap.  I staggered toward the stockade gate and fell headlong through the door of a house, where I lay in a stupor for hours.”
- Sam Brown, Fort Wadsworth, Dakota Territory, 1866

Sam Brown was a legendary frontiersman.  He was the son of Major Joseph R. Brown, for whom Browns Valley was named.  That valley lies between the headwaters of the Red and Minnesota Rivers on the western border of Minnesota; right at the tip of that little bump you see on the state map on our western border.

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