Thanks, Mark for your comments. But I think you should also mention that you're working for Kevin McDonald's campaign.
A few points: -Prohibiting further pollution from entering already polluted waters has been a requirement of the Clean Water Act since 1970 and the MPCA is fully capable right now of enforcing it, but they don't. The recent lawsuit between the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the MPCA (Annandale and Maple Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant) clearly showed that MPCA has been exacerbating the situation by allowing continued discharges of pollutants to state-listed impaired waters. Sure, they could use more money to keep up with the workload - it's imperative. But we need a regime change and a fair funding structure (i.e. A bit more of a polluter pays factor) to be sure the program will be implemented fairly. Why should polluters get away without having to comply with existing regulations while the general population pays for the extremely-more-expensive cleanup? -Please do not infer that my criticism of the Clean Water Legacy Bill is in any way a criticism of the authors in our legislature. They all had great interest in resolving the state's water pollution problems which I applaud and which is why they signed on, but they also had great difficulty in deciding on a fair way to institute a fee since our Gov refused any type of new taxation or fees on his pet industries (i.e. Corporate agriculture). The Gov is actually the one who killed the bill in this way. -The City was fully informed regarding the Clean Water Legacy Bill when the stormwater utility fee was designed. I share their view that cleaning up our waters is important, but that the funding mechanism was terribly unfair, specifically to city residents. In addition, if Clean Water Legacy had passed, Minneapolis could still have combined city, state, and federal funding sources towards cleaning up impaired waters. The city contribution is absolutely still appropriate and necessary for upgrading their stormwater management system which we all use and for which we are all responsible. -Now that the Gov has reneged on his No New Taxes pledge, he will likely feel free to pass a tax for impaired waters next year and provide a venue to funnel our money to his friends in industry out-state. Minneapolis can still be a beneficiary, however, but will never receive back what the residents will have paid into it. Also, the vehicle already exists for funneling state and federal money into the impaired waters program. You are wrong to state that the Clean Water Legacy Bill was necessary for this purpose. And Finally, -Minneapolis cannot "go it alone" and clean up the waters within its borders (natural waters know no political boundaries). But Minneapolis is responsible for the additional urban runoff that it contributes to the existing mess coming down the Mississippi River, and I submit that they are rising to that challenge (as far as stormwater is concerned). Individuals are responsible for the pollution that is running off of their properties; that is the what the stormwater fee is all about. Kudos to Kevin McDonald for raising environmental issues in his campaign. I respectfully disagree, however, with his analysis of this particular issue. Karen Harder, Not Working For Anyone's Campaign Lynnhurst > From: Mark Snyder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:02:40 -0500 > To: Minneapolis Issues Forum <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Mpls] storm water management in Minneapolis > (Excerpts) > Minneapolis can either go it alone in addressing stormwater quality and > runoff issues, and in cleaning up its surface waters, or it can enlist the > support of federal and state resources. The vehicle for securing federal and > state financial support is through the ³impaired waters² program of the > Clean Water Act. > > If Karen¹s concern that Minneapolis will get royally screwed, we need to get > on top of this now. Many members of our Minneapolis House and Senate > delegation (Sen. Higgins, Rep. Wagenius, Rep. Kelliher, Rep. Kahn, Rep. > Davnie, Rep.Clark, Rep. Hornstein) are bill sponsors. REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
