Legislative updates: Selective drinking water protection?
Minnesota is considering new rules to protect drinking water from nitrate pollution. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t cover the whole state or help the people who need protection the most — private well owners.
In better news, the $22 million raided from the Clean Water Fund in 2017 has been repaid, thanks to the projected state surplus.
Catch up on this and other Capitol river news at FMR’s Legislative Updates blog.
Water Action Day Returns
It’s back! Once again Minnesotans will fill the Capitol to tell our Legislators to #ProtectOurWater. Last spring, roughly 600 citizen lobbyists participated in the inaugural Water Action Day and we’re expecting another banner year.
Join us Wednesday, May 2 — for workshops, the Clean Water Rally in the Rotunda, and more!
Note: If you’d like the option to join a small group meeting with your representative, please RSVP as early as you can.
A new environmental learning center at Watergate Marina?
If all goes well at the state Capitol this session, the City of Saint Paul could begin designing a new environmental learning center on the river at Watergate Marina as early as July.
Mississippi River News
‘Taming the Mighty Mississippi’
As flooding becomes more frequent and destructive, the fight for power over America’s River is coming to a boil.
In this insightful and visually stunning story, the Washington Post reveals the struggle for control all along our great river, revealing questions about what it once was, doubts about what it will become and who will pay for any of it.
Read more from the Washington Post »
New conservancy group to advocate for St. Paul riverfront projects
More than $500,000 has been raised through public and private sources to fund St. Paul’s Great River Passage initiative — a plan to reinvigorate green space along the Mississippi River.
Funds will go towards planning the River Balcony, a new Environmental Learning Center (see update above) and establishing a new conservancy group to advocate for projects and lead fundraising efforts.
Read more from the Pioneer Press »
Minneapolis seeks state funds for big riverfront projects
The City of Minneapolis is asking the state Legislature for $15 million to prepare the Upper Harbor Terminal site in North Minneapolis for redevelopment and $1.5 million for design work to repurpose the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock along the Central riverfront.
Read more about the Upper Harbor Terminal or lock redesign from WCCO »
‘Minn. moves to reduce nitrates in groundwater; environmental groups wonder, wait’
This month, Gov. Mark Dayton and agriculture commissioner Dave Frederickson outlined a proposal years in the making: A system of voluntary and mandatory measures on farmland and in public water supplies to safeguard and improve water quality across the state.
But some environmental groups question if the plan goes far enough, quickly enough to address this statewide issue.
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