The Minnesota Senate passed the Omnibus Environment and Natural Resources Bill (SF 4499) Saturday, which included projects that would receive funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. This included $500,000 for Minnesota Point Pine Forest Scientific and Natural Area and Sky Harbor to protect old growth forest and the harbor.
Today, Senator Jeff Hayden introduced legislation that would ensure environmental justice. For years, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) worked on an Indoor Urban Farm project to be built at the Roof Depot in Minneapolis. The project would promote environmental justice and undo years’ worth of pollution in one of the city’s most racially diverse neighborhoods.
Legislation was passed Thursday banning the use of trichloroethylene (TCE) in Minnesota, beginning June 1, 2022. The push for a ban of TCE comes in response to the discovery in 2019 that the Water Gremlin company had failed to report accurate emissions standards for more than 15 years.
Senator Karla Bigham issued the following response to Governor Walz’s executive order expanding the outdoor recreation opportunities that are acceptable under the stay-at-home order.
State Senator Melisa Franzen (DFL-Edina), State Rep. Heather Edelson (DFL-Edina), and State Rep. Steve Elkins (DFL-Bloomington) will host a town hall meeting in Edina.
State Senator Greg Clausen (DFL-Apple Valley) will be speaking at Conservation Minnesota’s Environment Town Hall, an evening discussing the environment and conservation issues.