Critical Area Rulemaking to move forward!

Good news for the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities – rulemaking is back on track for the 72-mile corridor of the Mississippi River from Dayton to Hastings. Designated as a State Critical Area in 1976 and as a National Park in 1988, this stretch of river has waited decades for set of consistent, science-based rules that will ensure protection of the corridor for generations to come. On the final day of the legislative session, the lawmakers extended the MN Department of Natural Resources authority to complete the rules and provided a $100,000 appropriation to the DNR to conduct the work that remains to get them adopted into law. The rulemaking extension was included in the Omnibus Legacy Bill, which is now headed for Governor Daytons desk to be signed.

FMR worked with Legislators in 2009 to get the original Critical Area rulemaking legislation passed, and then in 2011 we worked to fight of an attempt to repeal it.

Its been a long haul, and there is plenty more to do, but we are very pleased that the Legislature extended the critical area rulemaking process, said FMR executive director Whitney Clark. And we are grateful to the Legislative leaders who worked with us to ensure protection of the unique and significant natural and cultural resources of the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities.

Rules for the Mississippi River Critical Area were drafted in 2010 by the DNR with extensive community involvement and input, however the DNR was not able to meet the state mandated deadline to officially publish the draft rules by the end of 2010. Now the rulemaking process can pick up where it left off and move forward to the formal review process, which will have the oversight of an administrative law judge. Prior to that, the DNR will likely engage the public in additional meetings since it has been three years since the draft rules were set aside.

The Critical Area rules drafted in 2010 did a fair job of balancing the interests of private development with the goals of protecting the ecological, historical, scenic and recreational resources and functions of the river, said Bob Spaulding, FMR River Planner. Were ready to see the new rules move forward through the formal review process and implementation at the local level.