From the Capitol
House passes environment bill
Posted: 4/13/04
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Rep. Dennis Ozment passionately argued the House environment and natural resources omnibus bill deserved support ó others disagreed.
ìThe bill is a quality bill doing good things for Minnesota,î said Ozment, House environment and natural resources committee chair and bill author.
Although the bill eventually passed the House on a strong 81 to 50 vote, House DFLers attacked it as weak on dealing with water pollution.
ìMinnesota ó land of 10,000 polluted waters and one governor who doesnít care,î said Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis.
The bill, Wagenius argued, doesnít begin to meet the costs and complexities of meeting the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act on impaired waters ó a viewpoint Ozment challenged.
Ozment, R-Rosemount, countered the legislation creates a Clean Waters Council to advise in implementation of impaired water programs and dedicates $70,000 towards the initiative.
The price of cleaning up the stateís impaired waters could cost as much as a billion dollar, Wagenius said.
The bill is insufficient, she argued.
But Ozment chided DFLers for criticizing the legislation but offering no amendments.
The omnibus bill contains the three percent state agency budget cuts sought by Gov. Pawlenty.
This translates into a $197,000 budget cut to the Minnesota Zoo and a $1.2 million cut to the Department of Natural Resources this biennium.
Bill highlights include a provision making it illegal to crush cars without first removing the mercury switches in the vehicle.
First violation of the law is a misdemeanor, with additional violations being misdemeanors as well.
The legislation launches several studies, one a regional park study would examine fairness of regional park funding and maintenance between metro and Greater Minnesota.
Another study would have the DNR examine the fiscal management of the snowmobile trails and enforcement account.
One controversial section of the bill on all terrain vehicles (ATVs) was deleted from the bill by Ozment.
He proposed the ATV legislation come to the House floor as a stand alone bill.
Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, chair of the House environment and natural resources policy committee chair, expects the ATV bill to come to the House floor next week.
ìLook forward to the battle,î said Hackbarth.
Earlier in the week, the Sierra Club and the Clean Water Action Alliance issued midterm grades to the House, Senate and Pawlenty, on a number of environmental issues.
The overall letter grade assigned the House was D+, the Senate B-, and the governor D+.
ìOur midterm report card shows that overall our elected state officials are neglecting the quality of Minnesotaís water, air and land,î said Ginny Yingling, Sierra Club North Star Chapter political committee chairperson.
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