Today's news reveals that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MN
DOT) is trying to get the legislature to modify its recently passed law
protecting the Camp Coldwater Spring. MN DOT wants the law to exempt
its Highway 55 reroute - the specific threat to the Spring that makes
the law necessary. See:
http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?story=84279362&template=metro_a
In other words, MN DOT expects the court-ordered studies to reveal that
its the Highway 55 reroute will indeed threaten the flow to the Spring,
and wants to continue with its destructive and unnecessary project
regardless of its impact. This is a complete departure from the
position that MN DOT has taken for many years. Throughout
administrative and court challenges, MN DOT has repeatedly used its
bottomless budget to hire staff and outside scientific and engineering
experts to assure decision makers, judges, the media, and everyone else
who was interested that the Highway 55 reroute would pose no danger
whatsoever to the Camp Coldwater Spring. This position was critical for
MN DOT to withstand the legal challenges to the Highway 55 reroute. MN
DOT's previous opponents have been community, environmental and Native
American groups who lacked funds to hire independent experts to
challenge MN DOT's hired guns. Now, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed
District, another government agency with the budget to hire an
independent expert is finally using accepted science to back up obvious
common sense conclusions about the effect of its project. In response,
MN DOT has been forced to reveal its hand. It does not in fact have any
confidence that it will not destroy the Coldwater Spring. MN DOT does
not care. It will do anything to build its highways, regardless of the
environmental damage. "Anything" includes lying whenever convenient.
This will hopefully be brought up repeatedly in the future whenever MN
DOT tries to impose a controversial project on any community.
Jordan Kushner
Powderhorn, Minneapolis
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