We are a few weeks into session, and after running entirely through the surplus last year, Senate Democrats have put forward a number of new costly proposals that they claim to be “environmentally friendly,” but really they are just growing government, creating more red tape, and increasing costs. There are 3 specific proposals I’m talking about: further regulation of nitrates, allowing government to grow the Public Waters Inventory on a whim, and regulating the manufacturing and packaging of products produced worldwide. We have to stop these ridiculous ideas before they get too far.

Let’s discuss nitrates first – Democrats are making nitrates out to be a boogeyman, when Minnesota already addressed nitrates. A couple weeks ago, the Clean Water subcommittee met to discuss lowering the level of nitrates. Parts of Southeast Minnesota, known as the Karst Region, are experiencing nitrates at 10 parts per million, which essentially means zero nitrates are in the water. Yet somehow, Democrats are pointing to farmers and blaming them for polluting the water. They claim it’s presenting a massive danger to families and contributing to “Blue Baby Syndrome.” These things just aren’t true. First of all, the nitrate levels are already incredibly low and by all accounts, are completely safe. Also, Blue Baby Syndrome is very rare in Minnesota, and we are not seeing cases of that anywhere. Democrats are using this as an excuse to further regular farmers, and it’s not right. Of course we want to keep our waters clean, but the science does not support the claims they’re trying to make.

Democrats have also introduced a bill that basically allows the DNR to change the Public Water Inventory at any point in time. The bill they brought forward completely changes the definition of “public waters,” and sets the stage for the state to come in and declare any water way to be part of the Inventory. What if a farmer has a crop field that experiences a historic flood? Does that mean the state can just come in and declare flooded lands as part of the Inventory? As it’s written, this entire bill is full of gray area. This bill will essentially force farmers to cede their land to the state. What kind of precedent is this setting?  

Another recent bill that we’ve discussed in committees is one that focuses on regulating the recycling and packaging of manufactured goods. They gave it a nice name to mask how awful the bill is and called it the “Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act,” but it really just tries to regulate how producers around their world package their products. It essentially requires that producers of packaging and paper products implement and finance a statewide program to provide for the collection and management of used packaging and paper products through waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and product redesign. This is a waste of money – there is no clear way to regulate things that are being packaged and manufactured outside of the state. This is just another expensive program that relies on increasing costs and over-regulating businesses, and will do nothing but force businesses to not do business in Minnesota, and those that do will just pass costs onto consumers. Why do Minnesota Democrats think they can dictate what businesses do outside of our state?

This is just a short handful of some of the bad ideas we’ve been hearing about. I will continue to share details with the public, because people should know exactly what’s going on at the Capitol. Democrats can’t help themselves – they want to put forward costly bills that just increase costs for businesses and consumers, and they want to increase the size and scope of government. These bills aren’t about helping our environment, they are about increasing regulation and giving more power to the state. If you have any thoughts on or questions regarding these bills, please reach out to my office at any time.