In October 2017, a news release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency boldly announced that Gov. Mark Dayton was launching a new “25 by 25“ water quality goal that would improve our state’s water quality by 25% by 2025.
Seven years later, the same agency announced that the list of impaired waters had grown from 2,669 in 2018 to 2,904 in 2024. Clearly, we are going in the wrong direction, and that is not accidental.
Part of the answer lies in the response a division manager at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture gave to a reporter recently about the nitrate crisis plaguing southeastern Minnesota: “While plans were developed many years ago, we had very little funding and staff.”
That is inexcusable. When Gov. Tim Walz took office in 2018, the state’s budget approached $39 billion and last year it grew to $72 billion — an increase of some 85% — and this includes last year’s $17 billion surplus. Yet, the governor and legislature underfunded efforts to protect our drinking water.
Currently, the drinking water for the residents of eight counties and 12 cities is not safe as a result of excess nitrates and PFAS or “forever chemicals.” And yet, the state lacks a comprehensive water plan and spreads responsibility for water quality over four agencies — which means there is an absence of accountability.
The result of this gross neglect is that the Federal Environmental Protection Agency has been compelled to intervene and order the state to take action with the threat “that if they don’t, they will step in.” (Minnesota Public Radio, Nov. 8).
According to one news report, Walz has proposed to create a new task force to come up with recommendations by June 2025. In the meantime, what will the residents of those cities and counties do in the absence of healthy fresh water?
This tragedy will only get worse unless we, the people, realize that this reliance on special interest money by our governor and legislators is causing all of us irreparable harm. In a commentary published in this newspaper last July, we noted the study done by the University of Minnesota that found that wealthy contributors were granted special favors including the opportunity to shape legislation. This influence peddling, in my view, is illegal but the Attorney General refuses to investigate.
And these contributions were most generous. For the 2020 elections, the four party caucuses in the legislature amassed over $26.5 million or $130,000 per incumbent. Yes, as the University study found, “Money matters at the Minnesota State Legislature.”
Specifically, we also noted that for five straight legislative sessions, the Legislature — both parties — refused hearings on any bills calling for mining reforms or that protected our dwindling supply of clean water. In addition, Walz has refused to explain why he is supporting the issuance of a mining permit to Glencore, a foreign mining conglomerate convicted in Federal District Court in May 2022 of felony bribery of public officials. That mine directly affects the waters of the BWCA and Lake Superior.
To make matters worse, the Senate DFL caucus has imposed a rule whereby one dissenting vote will prevent a bill from going to the Senate floor for a vote. In effect, one senator in that majority caucus has total veto power. And that pro-mining vote is there.
Now, thousands of people in southeastern Minnesota and other areas suffer with contaminated water. Perhaps, the best solution would be to transport that same water to the state Capitol and the governor’s residence for their drinking pleasure.
After all, this is the mess they created.
Retired governor Arne H. Carlson; retired legislators Tom Berkelman, DFL-Duluth and Janet Entzel, DFL-Minneapolis, and Duke Skorich of Zenith Research, Duluth, co-authored this piece.