These bills weaken the interim ordinance powers of townships and cities.

Calls needed TODAY. Bill to Weaken Local Control Gets Senate Hearing on Monday

Corporate interests are pushing bills to weaken the rights of cities and townships to effectively respond to unwanted and potentially harmful developments. This in turn weakens our ability as citizens to work through our local government to protect our community.  

• House File 2585: Reps. Jim Nash (R-Waconia), Mark Uglem (R-Champlin), Mike Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park), Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul), Josh Heintzeman (R-Baxter), Jerry Hertaus (R-Greenfield), Linda Runbeck (R- Circle Pines)
• Senate File 2694: Sen. Melisa Franzen (DFL-Edina)

The bills weaken the interim ordinance powers of townships and cities. Interim ordinances allow cities or townships to quickly put a temporary moratorium on major development. This is an emergency power that is essential when the community is caught off-guard by unanticipated and potentially harmful proposals, especially those from outside corporate interests. The interim ordinance freezes the status quo and gives the community time to review or create the appropriate zoning ordinances. Corporate interests have long pushed to weaken these rights because citizens have used them effectively to stop unwanted developments like factory farms.

Demand a Legislative Process That Puts People First, Not Corporate Special Interests.

Restore the Citizens’ Board!

It was unbelievable. A democratic institution established in 1968 was abolished literally in the dark of night in the final hours of the 2015 state legislative session. The Citizens’ Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had served as a testament to our Minnesota value that people deserve a say in the decisions that impact their lives and their communities.

The Citizens’ Board stood for people over corporate interests. This Board put citizens in a critical decision-making role and gave them a place to have their voices heard. That is what happened in August 2014 when the Board listened to farmers and rural neighbors opposed to a massive proposed 8,850-cow factory farm and ordered an in-depth environmental review. It was then that corporate interests began their attack of the Board.

The provision to abolish the Citizen’s Board was inserted in the last hours of the regular legislative session into the Omnibus Environment Finance Bill late at night. Many other rollbacks on bedrock environmental policy were included in this finance bill, making last session the worst in a decade for our environment. And even though a strong majority of DFL Senators opposed this provision and voted against it several times, it was still able to pass the DFL controlled Senate.  The fact is that the current structure of the Minnesota Senate favors corporate special interests when it comes to protecting our environment.

Take Action Now! The state legislative session begins March 8. Click here to let your Senator and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk know that we want our Citizens' Board back and a Senate that puts people first, not corporate interests.

Thanks for your action,

Bobby King

Land Stewardship Project

Lifting the ban would VASTLY increase fracking, frack-sand mining, and exploding oil trains

Dear Friends:

 

This is an urgent message!!!!!

Lawmakers on Tuesday night agreed to end a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports as a condition of the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending and taxation bill, paving the way for a dramatic increase in drilling, fracking, and carbon emissions.

This GOP sponsored legislation  comes just days after the COP21 climate talks in Paris. It threatens to undo much of the progress to address climate change made at the United Nations-brokered negotiations.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/263460-some-dems-greens-object-to-oil-export-allowance

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-16/congress-reaches-fiscal-deal-that-ends-u-s-crude-oil-export-ban

http://www.wsj.com/articles/wind-solar-companies-get-boost-from-tax-credit-extension-1450311501

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/16/undercutting-climprogress-congressate--agrees-lift-oil-export-ban

Among other environmentally damaging impacts, lifting the ban would

VASTLY increase fracking, frack-sand mining, and exploding oil trains:

• huge increase in pressure to mine frack sand
• more exploding oil cars s every day
• 3.3 million more barrels of oil every day
• 7,600 new fracking wells every year
• 135 more coal-fired plants
• 100 square miles of land each year lost to drilling
• export ban lifted in exchange for extended solar/wind tax credits for only 5 years.
• even if we lose, the more pressure we bring to bear (mostly on Democrats) now, the easier our work will be in the coming months to pressure Obama to declare nat’l environmental emergency, which allows him to reinsert the ban for one year.

This is NOT a done-deal, despite what the media says. .

 

Please CALL your US senator, congressperson, and the President, and tell them they must NOT vote for this bill.

• U.S. Senator 202-224-3121
• Congressman 202-224-3121
• President Obama 202-456-1111 or www.whitehouse.gov

 

Please join Environmental and Climate Action Groups all over the country in a fast lobbying response to defeat this very bad legislation.

 

Thank you.

 

Ken Tschumper
1640 Tschumper Rd,
La Crescent MN. 55947
507-894-4248
ktschump@acegroup.cc

 

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.