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LESSONS
FROM THE IMPAIRED WATER STAKEHOLDER PROCESS
With recent announcements from Governor Tim Pawlenty and leadership in
the Senate and House of Representatives, Minnesota is several steps closer
to tackling one of the state’s most pressing environmental problems:
its impaired waters. The problem of cleaning up Minnesota’s polluted
surface waters is challenging, especially considering the estimated price
tag of up to $3 billion over a decade. With only 16 percent of our lakes
and 10 percent of our rivers and streams tested, more than 2,250 of these
waters already are classified as impaired - and this number will certainly
rise as testing continues. More than 80 percent of the pollution causing
these impairments originates from urban and rural runoff, which makes
it vastly more complicated to tackle than wastewater discharges from industrial
and municipal sources.
Despite these challenges, a remarkable political consensus has developed
around a proposed solution known as Clean Water Legacy. At the root of
the political consensus lies wide agreement among key parties that restoring
and protecting the quality of Minnesota’s waters would have economic
and environmental benefits.
The Clean Water Legacy proposal was drafted three years ago by an unlikely
group of partners that MEI brought together to think collectively about
how to solve the impaired waters problem. These partners have become known
as the Group of 16, or “G16.” Representatives from agriculture,
environmental and conservation groups, businesses, state and local governments,
and others came together, united by a shared goal to create a statewide
program to assess and clean up the state’s waters. The key to their
approach was an investment in local infrastructure, which they saw as
best positioned to improve water quality. Such an approach would be expensive,
but a wide range of stakeholders agreed it was the key to continued economic
development as well as protecting and improving Minnesota waters. The
G16’s original funding proposal had limited political life, but
the group persisted in making the case for action. Eventually the group
agreed to a widely supported plan - $40 million from the general fund
in 2006-2007 and a commitment to secure long-term funding of $80 million
per year thereafter.
At a time when both political consensus and new state funding are hard
to come by, Minnesotans should contemplate what has propelled the issue
of impaired waters toward resolution. What can we learn from this approach
as we face problems that are equally or even more challenging –
climate change, energy supply, limitations on groundwater availability,
transportation, urban growth, transformation of the rural economy and
many others? Some lessons are easy to identify: bring the right partners
to the table, even when past conflicts make that a daunting task; cultivate
champions with the ability to move the community forward as well as to
develop consensus inside the partnership; frame the conversation to seek
consensus, taking the intersection of economic, social and environmental
interests into account. Above all else, be persistent. It takes time to
build political will, especially when a significant outlay of money or
change in policy is required.
Most fundamentally, Clean Water Legacy’s success can be attributed
to the commitment of the people who helped craft it. Getting a group of
partners from organizations that are accustomed to fighting one another
together to come to a consensus proposal was a daunting task. But when
the project leaders Peter Frosch of MEI and former State Senator Steve
Morse first sat down with the core group including Commissioner Sheryl
Corrigan and Assistant Commissioner Lisa Thorvig of the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency, Mike Robertson of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Kris
Sigford of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Steve Woods
of the Board of Water and Soil Resources, Chris Radatz of the Minnesota
Farm Bureau and Craig Johnson of the Minnesota League of Cities, we knew
these practical and dedicated partners were all working toward a common
goal.
Remarkable as they are, the results of the Impaired Water Stakeholder
Process and Clean Water Legacy should not surprise us. The vision of these
champions put the outcome within our reach from the beginning.
-- Mike Harley,
Executive Director
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R4R
AND TWIN CITIES HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GO FOR GREEN
MEI’s Resources for Redevelopment Program (R4R) and Twin Cities
Habitat for Humanity are taking our long-standing partnership to a new
level. After six years working with Habitat to make underutilized urban
properties available for housing, R4R will work with Habitat to find ways
to make its homes “greener.”
Both organizations share a commitment to improving the quality of the
Twin Cities’ neighborhoods and communities. Now we are exploring
how we might work together to continue to provide decent, safe and affordable
housing that contributes to strong communities, provides environmental
improvements, contributes to social growth and diversification, and uses
proven, cost-effective technologies while still engaging a volunteer labor
force.
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is a leader in the Habitat International
organization, producing 43 new homes and completing 11 rehabilitation
projects in 2004, and is the highest-producing cold climate Habitat affiliate.
But Twin Cities Habitat recognizes an opportunity to take a leadership
position among Habitat affiliates in the field of sustainable development.
Homes being built by Twin Cities Habitat already incorporate several sustainable
features, such as urban site location, reusing infill and brownfield properties,
Energy Star-rated appliances, passive radon mitigation, and proximity
to jobs and transportation. However, further opportunities exist for maintaining
the long-term affordability of these homes and maximizing environmental
benefits.
R4R and Habitat staff along with our partners will analyze current Habitat
development designs and building procedures, building materials, resource
use, what other Habitat affiliates are doing related to sustainable development,
and current best building practices. All of this information will be used
to help Twin Cities Habitat identify ways they can make homes safer for
their occupants, reduce energy and maintenance costs, and improve the
environment.
The project is a perfect fit for R4R’s focus to tackle problems
associated with urban land use by making sustainable development of underutilized
properties a widely used strategy to achieve environmental, economic and
social benefits. This includes creation and preservation of affordable
housing and the strengthening and diversification of neighborhoods.
Keep an eye on the 2007 building season to see what kind of changes Habitat
adopts.
--Shelley
Shreffler, Resources for Redevelopment Director
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NEW
HORIZONS FOR CLEAN AIR MINNESOTA
On April 6, Clean Air Minnesota held a demonstration of low-polluting
solvents for printers from around Minnesota. The demonstration was a part
of Clean Air Minnesota’s multi-year area source project focused
on reducing emissions from printing industry. The project has reduced
emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs, a precursor to smog) by
more than 2,400 pounds since its inception in 2004.
As the printer project winds down, Clean Air Minnesota is evaluating other
sectors of area sources – which are smaller, typically unregulated
sources – of pollution to determine the potential to make the largest,
most cost-effective emission reductions. The program has received a grant
from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to evaluate Minnesota’s
area sources of pollution for such opportunities.
As the first step in the evaluation of Minnesota’s area sources,
Clean Air Minnesota held a focus group with the Alliance of Automotive
Service Providers of Minnesota (AASP-MN) to explore the potential for
voluntary air pollution prevention in the auto service industry. Judell
Anderson, executive director of AASP-MN and a Clean Air Minnesota Area
Source Team member, helped organize the meeting, which included nine members
of the AASP-MN Collision Advisory Committee.
The goal of the meeting was to gain insight into pollution sources and
emission-reduction technologies in the auto service industry. The group
of AASP-MN committee members brainstormed a list of several pollution-prevention
technologies that could potentially be implemented in the industry to
lower air emissions.
The focus group recognized that not all technologies are equally ready
for adoption. Participants felt that proven technologies and techniques,
such as employee training on material waste reduction, solvent recycling
systems and more efficient paint-mixing and –application technologies
were among the most promising. Alternative paints, paint booth design
and improved paint application training methods were discussed as developing
and future technologies with potential to reduce waste and air emissions.
The focus group process provided Clean Air Minnesota with valuable information
to consider in assessing whether or not a pilot project with the auto
service industry would be feasible. Clean Air Minnesota will use this
information in conjunction with a thorough evaluation of Minnesota’s
other area sources of air pollution to identify leading opportunities
for voluntary emission reductions.
-- Kabby Jones,
Clean Air Minnesota Project Manager
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2006
ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE AWARD FINALISTS
The 2006 Environmental Initiative Award finalists have been announced!
Each year, MEI recognizes 15 innovative projects that have used a collaborative
approach to produce positive environmental outcomes for Minnesota. All
of the finalist projects will be honored and one winner in each category
will be announced at the annual Environmental Initiative Awards dinner
on Wednesday, May 3, at the McNamara Alumni Center of the University of
Minnesota. MEI will also present an award to the Partnership of the Year,
the finalist project that best exemplifies MEI’s mission to build
innovative partnership to develop solutions to Minnesota’s environmental
problems. This year’s finalists are:
Energy
Clean Energy Resource Teams
HOURCAR
Trimont Area Wind Farm
Environmental Education
Bringing Stream Bio-Monitoring to the Classroom
Red River Water Festival
WATER (Watershed Assistance Through Education Resources)
Land Use
Growth Pressures on Sensitive Natural Resources in DNR’s Central
Region
Low Impact Development
Third Crop Initiative
Private Sector Environmental Management
Best Buy Consumer Electronics Recycling
Target Cardboard Recycling Maximization
Minnesota Mercury Recovery Program
Public Sector Environmental Management
Crow Wing County Used Oil Collections Program
Healthcare Environmental Improvement Project
Intercommunity Groundwater Protection
-- Megan Dobratz,
Awards Program Manager
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NEW
MEI BOARD MEMBERS
MEI is excited to announce Martha Brand and John Hofland as the two newest
members to MEI’s Board of Directors.
Martha Brand is an experienced attorney and land use expert who serves
as the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy’s (MCEA) executive
director. She has worked with MEI’s Resources for Redevelopment
program on land use issues, and her organization has been one of our most
important partners on Clean Air Minnesota and the Impaired Waters Stakeholder
Process.
John Hofland serves as manager of communications for Flint Hills Resources’
operations in Minnesota and other Upper Midwest states. He has been involved
in Clean Air Minnesota since its inception, has served on the steering
committee for more than a year and was one of the key individuals involved
in the development of Project Green Fleet.
The welcoming of new board members also means we have to say goodbye others.
Our thanks and gratitude for their years of service are extended to Don
Martin from Xcel Energy, Mark Ten Eyck from MCEA and Dick Fowler.
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