Two requests rejected, but environment committee approves LCCMR bill

(UPDATED 6:15 p.m.)

It took an extended meeting and two proposed projects were eliminated, but the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee approved HF390 Thursday evening.

Sponsored by Committee Chair Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings), the bill, which now moves to the House Government Operations and Elections Policy Committee, would appropriate $46.38 million for 63 projects recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. It was approved on 13-5 roll call vote. It has no Senate companion.

The bill would fund projects in areas such as water resources, environmental education, invasive species and land acquisition for habitat and recreation.

During its regular meeting Thursday morning, the committee adopted several amendments including one that eliminated funding for a project that would have studied metro area lakes.

Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau) successfully offered an amendment that removed $250,000 in funding for a program the University of St. Thomas had proposed to study the aquatic and terrestrial habitat of turtle populations in urban lakes. It would have examined how turtles are impacted by water quality and how well shoreline management is working in those lakes as turtles are continually moving between land and water.

Fabian said the project was unnecessary because this work was already being done by the Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources, among others.

“For me, this boils down to water quality, and it seems to me that we’re duplicating a lot of our other efforts that are going on with regards to water quality from MPCA and DNR and those other types of agencies,” he said.

Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) disagreed, saying that although water quality was being studied, much less was known about its impact on wildlife.

“We don’t have canaries in the coal mine,” Hansen said. “If there are animals that can give us the impacts, that’s real.”

Fabian’s amendment, which moved the $250,000 to an appropriation for the Minnesota Biological Survey elsewhere in the bill, was adopted on a voice vote.

Short on time, the committee then adjourned.

Afternoon session

When the committee reconvened after the House Floor session, two more amendments were adopted. The A10 amendment offered by Rep. Jim Newberger (R-Becker) provoked the most discussion.

It eliminated $1 million in funding for the Legislative Energy Commission to lead a two-year study examining ways to eliminate Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. The commission was created by the Legislature in 2008 to evaluate Minnesota’s energy policies to assess their impact on the future of the state’s environment and economy.

Newberger said that while that work might have an impact in the future, it would offer no immediate improvement to the environment, and his amendment moved the money to a project that provides grants to soil and water districts.

“In the here and now, giving an additional million dollars to clean up our waters, to me that’s worth the amendment,” Newberger said.

Several DFL members expressed opposition, saying the study was an important one for Minnesota’s energy future, but it was adopted on a partisan 11-7 roll call vote.

The LCCMR makes recommendations to the Legislature for expenditures from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. The fund was established through a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1988 to direct proceeds from the state lottery and investment income toward preservation of Minnesota’s natural resources. It is a dedicated fund intended to provide a stable source of money to protect, conserve, preserve and enhance those resources for current and future generations.