ACT NOW (AGAIN!): Bill to Gut the MPCA Citizens' Board is on the MN House Floor Friday

Legislation that Guts the Power of the MPCA Citizens' Board
will be on the MN House Floor on Friday

Contact your state Representative today and tell them to stand up to corporate special interests and keep the MPCA Citizens’ Board strong. The House Omnibus Environment Finance Bill contains provisions that gut the authority of the MPCA Citizens’ Board and it will be on the House floor Friday, April 24.

Corporate ag is attacking the MPCA Citizens’ Board. In August 2014, neighbors to a proposed 8,850-cow factory farm in Stevens County called on the MPCA Citizens' Board to protect their community. Among neighbors’ concerns was that each year this factory farm would have used close to 100 million gallons of water and generated over 75 million gallons of liquid manure. The MPCA Citizens’ Board listened and for the first time ever ordered an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a factory farm. However, that’s one EIS too many for corporate agriculture interests.

Bobby King
Land Stewardship Project
612-722-6377

Proposed Minnesota state legislation establishes a self-appointed board of corporate ag interests that oversees millions in public funds.

Bill Would Put Corporate Ag Interests in Charge of Millions of Public Dollars

Proposed Minnesota state legislation establishes a self-appointed board of corporate ag interests that oversees millions in public funds. The House Omnibus Ag Finance Bill (House File 1437) aims to put corporate ag interests in charge of millions in public funds with no accountability. The bill creates the “Agriculture, Research, Education, Extension, and Technology Transfer Fund” and establishes a board that controls the funding. This board is made up primarily of corporate ag and commodity groups that appoint their own representatives to the board. This self-appointed board controls these public funds and the bill has no provisions for transparency or accountability.

The fund focuses on productivity, not sustainability. The bill directs the funds to focus on “investments that will most efficiently achieve long-term agricultural productivity . ” Directing research dollars to focus only on productivity, with no regard for stewardship of our land and water or profitability for farmers, is bad policy. This language needs to say “productivity and sustainability.”

It’s hard to believe such a bad idea could get so far. This is such a bad idea that the Star Tribune newspaper on Monday wrote a major editorial opposing the idea: "New Minnesota ag board would set troubling precedent." The editorial says, in part, “Essentially, the legislation creates a pot of public money and turns it over to interest group representatives with vague language about how it could be spent.”

Take action now to let your legislators know that you don’t want special interests put in charge of public dollars.

Act Now to Stop Legislation that Puts Corporate Ag Interests in Charge of Millions of Public Dollars

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Saturday, May 9th - a big conference for frac-sand activists

SAVE THE DATE!  

On Saturday, May 9th a big conference for frac-sand activists will be held in Lake City MN, for people from our entire region, both sides of Mississippi.

Join citizen volunteers from both sides of the Mississippi River for a day of network building and information exchange. Whether you are new to the issue or an experienced advocate, this conference is for you.  We are all working to protect our communities from the adverse impacts of industrial-scale silica sand mining, processing and transport. At the conference you will meet citizens and hear success stories from all over the region. You will leave with ideas that you can use in your own community.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

8:30 AM to 3:30 PM

St. Mary of the Lake Church

419 West Lyon Ave. (Hwy. 63), Lake City, MN 55041

Located 3 blocks from Hwy. 61 on Hwy. 63.

$15 includes lunch and breaks

Registration information below

Environmental Impact Statement on a factory farm

 In August 2014, neighbors to a proposed 8,850-cow factory farm in Stevens County, Minnesota called on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens' Board to protect their community. Among neighbors' concerns was that each year this factory farm would have used close to 100 million gallons of water and generated over 75 million gallons of liquid manure. 

The MPCA Citizens' Board listened and for the first time ever ordered an Environmental Impact Statement on a factory farm.