Legislative session preview: FMR's 2015 water policy priorities

Minnesota's 2015 legislative session is up and running. The GOP's electoral victories in the State House of Representatives created a divided state government for the 2015-2016 biennium, posing new challenges and opportunities for water policy in Minnesota.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The 2015 legislative session in Minnesota is shaping up to feature a mixed bag of water quality and natural resource conservation policy. While Democrats made a clean-sweep of statewide elections last November, the GOP won 11 new seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, handing control of that chamber to Republicans and setting up a divided state government for the 2015-2016 biennium.

New House leadership combined with returning Senate leadership poses new challenges and opportunities for water policy in Minnesota.

FMR Policy Priorities

FMR is working with our allies to advance three key water priorities this year. Our 2015 legislative priorities include Forever Green, Advanced Cellulosic Biofuels, and the Clean Water Fund. In addition, we will be working hard to prevent unnecessary rollbacks to existing clean water protections.

1. Forever Green

   The University of Minnesotas Forever Green initiative will accelerate development of economically viable winter annual and perennial crop options for Minnesota farm operations to reduce nonpoint pollution and habitat loss currently associated with annual cropping systems.

   About 95% of Minnesotas cropland is planted in annual varieties that are prone to excessive nutrient loss and surface erosion. Once barren, these landscapes provide little to no habitat or ecosystem services, and have become the major source of pollution to Minnesotas surface water and groundwater resources.

   While FMR and our allies did successfully secure Forever Green funding in 2014, this was one-time money insufficient to fully achieve program goals over time. Additional Forever Green funding is necessary to jump-start the use of perennial crops to restore water quality, while also enhancing farm profits and addressing a variety of soil health, habitat and climate change challenges facing our state.

2. Advanced Cellulosic Biofuels

   FMR, in partnership with a number of allies, is working to explore legislation to promote the development of advanced cellulosic biofuel production facilities in Minnesota. These facilities would use sustainably-sourced perennial crops as the feed stock for next generation biofuels made right here in Minnesota.

   Despite decades of admirable conservation efforts, it is now clear that we cannot achieve water quality goals in agricultural portions of the state without widespread conversion from corn and soy acreage to perennial landscape cover. Unfortunately, existing federal advanced biofuel goals simply promote the removal of corn stover (the residue of corn stalks and leaves left in the field after harvest) – a practice that drives up demand for corn acres often at the expense of conservation lands, while promoting increased tillage and fertilization that amplify farm runoff pollution.

   By establishing programs that promote the development of perennial-based advanced biofuels manufacturing in Minnesota, we can achieve the state's long-term renewable fuel and water quality goals simultaneously, while also enhancing habitat, soil health and climate resiliency throughout the state.

3. Safeguarding the Clean Water Fund

   In 2008, Minnesotans voted to adopt the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment. Thirty-three percent of the sales tax revenue derived through the Amendment is invested in clean water projects through the state's Clean Water Fund.

   Every two years, Minnesota's non-partisan Clean Water Council. works with experts from across the state to craft detailed recommendations to the legislature on how to best invest the Clean Water Fund. – which will bring in more than $200 million dollars for the 2015-2016 biennium.

   In past years, some Clean Water Fund money has been used to promote programs and projects that lack accountability to taxpayers and fail to maximize water quality outcomes. FMR and our partners will once again work with elected officials from both parties to encourage the legislature to adhere to the Clean Water Council's expert recommendations, and avoid spending Clean Water Fund money on other programs that failed to earn the support of the Council.

Policy Defense

In addition to advancing the policy items above, FMR and our conservation allies are also bracing for a wave of attempted rollbacks to longstanding conservation policies in Minnesota.

Some anticipated rollbacks include attacks on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens Board, weakened protections for groundwater quality and supply, weakened water quality permit protections, rollbacks on wetland policy and an attempt to bar the state from passing new water quality related rules that exceed federal minimums.

FMR firmly believes that Minnesota's clean air, fresh water and healthy natural resources are an asset to our state and our economy, and are worthy of our continued protection.

In the months to come, look for updates from FMR and our partners on ways you can help advance strong new conservation policies while preventing unnecessary rollbacks to some of our most cherished environmental protections.