Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Party lines drawn in disagreement over landfill cleanup appropriation

Representing the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Elizabeth Wefel testifies before the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division for a bill sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen, left, on capital projects funding. Photo by Andrew VonBank
Representing the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Elizabeth Wefel testifies before the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division for a bill sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen, left, on capital projects funding. Photo by Andrew VonBank

Partisanship raised its head in the debate over funding a landfill cleanup in Anoka County.

At the heart of the disagreement was an amendment put forth by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau) to the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division Thursday.

It was offered in response to HF233, sponsored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul). The bill is meant to correct a funding problem with appropriations approved in last year’s capital investment law, when a number of projects were funded through the sale of appropriation bonds. But that funding mechanism is being challenged in the courts, resulting in those projects being put on hold.

The projects include wastewater treatment grants, capital improvements for regional parks, storm water control structures and dredging, and cleanup funding for the closed landfill in Andover.

Hansen’s bill would repeal the 2018 provisions and replace funding with general-obligation bonds. It was approved, as amended, by the division on an 11-7 party-line, roll-call vote and sent to the House Ways and Means Committee. It has no Senate companion.

Fabian's amendment, defeated by the same total, would have increased funding provided for the Andover landfill from $6 million to $10.3 million.

Officials from the Pollution Control Agency reported earlier this week that the clean-up required $4.3 million more than had originally been appropriated and that funds were needed by March in order to start work this fall.

Complicating the project is a bonding requirement that the project be fully funded before bonds can be issued.

According to PCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka, this is because once the landfill is opened, work would need to proceed to completion. Nothing in the cleanup not already completed can be done part way due to the toxic materials involved, he said.

Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL-Roseville) said the proposal is meant only to rectify a problem from last year.

“If we are going kind of open up the can of worms to everyone who needs some additional money, that wasn’t the intent,” she said.

Hansen noted that Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) sponsors HF240 that would provide complete funding for the project and which the division may hear later.

Becker-Finn noted that Scott’s proposal has enough time to be worked on, heard and passed in both the House and Senate in order to secure the funding by March.

But Fabian said the amendment was a commonsense answer to a serious issue, and expressed his frustration by declaring, “This is politics at its worst.”

 


Related Articles


Priority Dailies

Minnesota’s projected budget surplus balloons to $3.7 billion, but fiscal pressure still looms
(House Photography file photo) Just as Minnesota has experienced a warmer winter than usual, so has the state’s budget outlook warmed over the past few months. On Thursday, Minnesota Management and Budget...
Legislative leaders announce 2024 committee deadlines
(House Photography file photo) Legislators and the public officially know the timeline for getting bills through the House committee process during the upcoming 2024 session. Here are the two deadlines fo...

Minnesota House on Twitter