“The unprecedented blizzard of terrible ideas coming out of Washington, D.C. to accelerate mining, logging and industrial development by reducing federal environmental standards is almost certain to have significant consequences for our state,” the author writes. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
There’s a battle at the Minnesota Legislature this session to defend environmental standards from attacks by industry. A bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators recently attempted to repeal the environmental rules that protect wild rice and prohibit mine waste from polluting water by rushing a bill through a committee that has nothing to do with the environment.
Then again, on Earth Day, another attempt was made to repeal these rules. But what was so breathtakingly cynical, so beyond the pale, was that both times legislators tried to sneak these significant environmental rollbacks through by attaching them to a critical extension of unemployment insurance for laid off mine workers.
This episode epitomizes how low some will go to advance their agenda, as well as the choice facing our Legislature this session: either defend Minnesota from polluters, or join in the push to give them what they want. Minnesota legislators need to know that reducing state environmental standards — especially in this perilous national moment — is a red line that nobody should cross.
The unprecedented blizzard of terrible ideas coming out of Washington, D.C. to accelerate mining, logging and industrial development by reducing federal environmental standards is almost certain to have significant consequences for our state. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen executive actions to exempt coal burning power plants from regulations; allow mining and logging in and next to the Boundary Waters Wilderness; eliminate clean water standards on PFAS forever chemicals; and slash the federal workforce that enforces U.S. environmental law. It adds up to a staggering giveaway to corporations and billionaires that will harm Minnesota’s clean air, clean water and public health.
One of the strongest defenses we have against these reckless federal rollbacks is our suite of state environmental laws, often described by industry lobbyists as among “the strongest environmental standards” in the nation.
When it suits them, they point to those standards as the reason we should locate polluting industries in MInnesota, because surely they will protect our environment, they argue. “Trust the process,” they say.
But their brazen attacks on these standards — through legislative gimmicks with little to no public involvement — reveal their true aim: to advance industrial proposals, even if it means eliminating protections for clean water.
The state mining pollution standards they now want to repeal have been litigated all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which struck down the copper-sulfide PolyMet permit because of them. Millions of public dollars and thousands of hours have gone into creating and defending these critical rules that protect clean water.
With Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, this outrageous attempt to gut state environmental standards should shock everybody and compel all Minnesota legislators who claim to care about the environment to double down on that commitment.
Mining standards are not the only place they need to hold the line. The same crowd gleefully gutting federal environmental laws across the board in D.C. are engaged in a similar project here in Minnesota, just a bit more quietly.
Industrial interests are also attempting to weaken Minnesota’s landmark PFAS legislation and 100%clean energy law; repeal our successful solar garden program; and give environmental workarounds and lucrative tax breaks to the billionaire tech companies who want our water and energy for new data centers.
The Minnesota Legislature has big decisions ahead that will have a direct impact on people’s health now and decades into the future. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, let’s encourage Minnesota lawmakers to do the right thing and prioritize clean water, clean air and climate justice over corporate pressure and short-term profits.
Our response in the next month is critical. If Minnesota doesn’t stand up and defend our state environmental laws, we could lose the places and values that define our state.