House repasses LCCMR appropriations bill, sends to governor

The House voted 92-40 to adopt the conference committee report and repass HF2993/SF2963* late Sunday, giving its go-ahead to a $46.34 million funding package for projects meant to benefit the state’s natural resources.

The bill now goes to the governor.

Sponsored by Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) and Sen. Kari Dziedzic (DFL-Mpls), the proposal would distribute money appropriated from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, established in 1998 to use state lottery and investment income to subsidize natural resources projects.

The conference committee reached agreement on a number of projects that had been in dispute and added them to the final legislation. They include:

• $1.5 million for mapping the extent and quality of aggregate resources in unmapped counties;
• $1.5 million to study the impact of land use changes in the Pineland Sands aquifer;
• $596,000 to research using microbes to remove salts and metals from ground and surface water;
• $556,000 to measure pollen and seed dispersal to improve prairie restoration;
• $500,000 for a statewide network of habitat monitoring sites to help guide and prioritize protection decisions; and
• $500,000 to acquire Point Pine Scientific and Natural Area located along Lake Superior.

“There were a number of concessions that the House did make, but I think they were good ones,” Hackbarth said.

But Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) said over $8 million in recommended projects had been replaced by special interest initiatives.

“You still have special interest projects and the GOP cannot accept solar projects or climate projects, so they’re missing,” Hansen said. “I would encourage a ‘no’ vote.”The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources approved a package of 89 projects last fall, but several are no longer present in the conference committee report.

Some of those eliminated include:

• a vegetative buffer assessment and prioritization to protect water quality;
• an assessment of climate change effects on the release of mercury and sulfur into aquatic ecosystems;
• workshops and outreach efforts to provide information on nontoxic ammunition alternatives;
• high-resolution climate projections to aid local planning efforts; and
• an analysis of community clean energy investments as alternatives to utility transmissions.