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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Dean Urdahl

253 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4344

For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640

Posted: 2006-03-15 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

URDAHL: HIGHLIGHTING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION



By Dean Urdahl
District 18B, State Representative

In his State of the State speech to the Legislature, Governor Pawlenty highlighted preserving our environment and natural resources as one of the four things he believes will make the biggest difference in creating Minnesota’s future (the others were education, health care and jobs). He then went on to outline several environmental proposals, adding that “the threat to our natural resources is growing faster than our ability to protect them.” Here is a brief outline of some of the proposals the Minnesota House will consider this year:

CLEAN WATER LEGACY
In his speech, the governor asked for $20 million to fund Clean Water Legacy programs. That total is by no means all it will take to clean up rivers and lakes we know are polluted, but it is a good down payment.

1/8 SALES TAX DEDICATION
This proposal would put a constitutional amendment on this year’s ballot, allowing you to vote yes or no on dedicating 1/8 of 1 percent of the state sales tax to conservation and clean water funding. This proposal would not increase the sales tax.

BONDING
This is a bonding year and the House will include several environmental and natural resource projects in its final bonding bill. I am the chief-author of $7 million in bonding to purchase state park land, including the $1 million purchase of land for Greenleaf State Park. I am also the co-author of local initiative grant bonding for Eddy Park in Wright County.

These three issues, and many more, will come before the House this year, but we shouldn’t stop there when it comes to environmental protection.

Again this year I will promote a bill I introduced last year to create an Aquatic Invasive Species Fund to fund efforts to prevent the spread of invasive plant and animal species into uninfested waters and manage waters already contaminated. My bill will raise approximately $5-6 million for the fund by selling a $10 decal that will be required for all watercraft used in public waters.

A look at some of our local lakes shows why this is necessary. The DNR lists Lake Stella, Lake Washington and Lake Ripley – all in Meeker County – as infested with Eurasian watermilfiol. Wright County has too many infested lakes to list in this space. This is not just a local problem. More than 160 lakes in Minnesota are infested with milfoil; 2,200 lakes contain purple lossestrife; 702 lakes contain curly-leaf pondweed; and flowering rush infests 16 lakes statewide. And these are just invasive plant species. Animal species such as zebra mussel and Asian carp are here or in danger of coming here as well, something we do not want to happen.

Preserving our tradition of having great lakes and clean waters will be a key to a successful future. I am urging my colleagues in the Legislature to join me in supporting these and other measures that will preserve the traditions.

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