Minnesota Trout Unlimited on Monday issued an alert to its members, saying the House and Senate environment and natural resources bills that will be sent to a conference committee should be vetoed unless substantially changed.
Such changes are being urged by other wildlife and environment groups. But it's unlikely the changes will be forthcoming, and a veto is possible, even probable.
Here's the notice sent out by TU:
Minnesota TU members and supporters:
The Minnesota House and Senate passed omnibus environment and natural resource finance bills on March 29th and March 31st respectively. These bills were the subject of action alerts the past two weeks since both cut a disproportionate amount of funding from natural resource protection and management, and contain numerous bad policy provisions. The Senate today appointed members to the conference committee which will resolve differences with the House version. We need your calls and letters this week to your legislators and the Governor to turn the tide in favor of clean water and conservation.
HF1010 passed the House floor on a 72-57 vote after hours of debate. In addition to disproportionally deep general fund cuts in the environmental and conservation areas in MPCA, DNR, and BWSR budgets, the bill still contains numerous bad policy provisions. The following three provisions were removed on the House floor: 1)provisions which would have required the DNR to log all merchantable black walnut trees from Whitewater and Frontenac State Parks, 2)designated new scientific and natural areas as recreation areas, and 3)abolished a state requirement that school trust fund land be managed "with sound natural resource conservation and management principles."
SF 1029 would cut environmental agencies less deeply than the House bill, though still disproportionally. Very troubling are the drastic general fund cuts to DNR waters and eco-services division. On March 31the Senate received HF 1010, inserted the language from Senate 1029 and passed the bill on a party line vote of 36-28. The House refused to concur in the Senate version and a conference committee to resolve differences will now be held. The House appointed McNamara, Hackbarth, Torkelson, Hoppe, and Dill to the conference committee. The Senate today appointed Ingebrigtsen, Rosen, Pederson, Gerlach, and Dahms. The bill is now known as HF 1010 in both bodies.
The Minnesota Environmental Partnership, to which Minnesota TU belongs, is leading work with the Governor's office and the conference committee members to improve HF1010 to create a final bill that the Governor could sign. But we need your calls and letters to your legislators and the Governor to protect clean water and conservation work while balancing the budget.
