TAKE ACTION TODAY!!! Toxic Taters has just learned that Representative John Persell has proposed an amendment to remove funding for the Pineland Sands Land and Water Study from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources Bill. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Now, we need your help to make it happen! CALL OR EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS NOW! TELL THEM SUPPORT THE PERSELL A11 AMENDMENT TO RESTORE THE LCCMR PROJECTS. Make sure to thank Representative Purcell too! http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/districtfinder
We're continuing to fight RDO's expansion into the Pineland Sands Aquifer by telling our legislators not to fund the Pineland Sands Land and Water Study. Would your community group or organization like to be added to the list of groups supporting this effort? Add your organization's name by Monday, April 4th. This is an organizational sig on letter. We encourage individuals to contact their senators and representatives directly. Thanks!
Peace
Amy
Toxic Taters
P.O. Box 25
Callaway, MN 56521
April_______
Dear Members of the Legislature,
Toxic Taters and the organizations listed below opposed the Pineland Sands Land and Water Study, proposed by the Department of Natural Resources and included in the Governor’s budget. While we are concerned about the impacts of chemical- and irrigation-intensive potato production in central Minnesota, this special study is not the correct tool to address the problem.
In early 2015, potato producer RD Offutt (RDO) had 54 pending applications for irrigation permits in north central Minnesota’s Pineland Sands aquifer. Given the scope of the project and its potential for far-reaching impacts on water quality and quantity, the DNR ordered an EAW. RDO was deeply reticent to engage in public review of its project, taking the DNR to court to avoid environmental review. To resolve the lawsuit, RDO reduced its permit requests to 5, and DNR and RDO signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the proposed Pineland Sands Land and Water Study.
On November 17, 2015, community members represented by Toxic Taters and allied organizations presented a citizens’ petition to the Environmental Quality Board signed by over 240 Minnesotans, calling on DNR to require an environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) to address RDO’s expansion in the Pineland Sands Aquifer. By the time DNR denied the petition in February, more than 220 additional individuals had added their support to the petition and many more had contacted Commissioner Landwehr and the Governor to voice their support for environmental review of this project
In an effort of good faith, the petitioners, Toxic Taters, along with partner organizations, White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP), Pesticide Action Network (PAN), and the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), agreed to a stay of our petition to further discuss the proposed Pineland Sands Land and Water Study. We entered these negotiations to determine whether we might find some common ground. However, before serious negotiations were able to truly start, RDO walked away from the discussions and requested that the DNR make a decision on the EAW petition.
We appreciate the work that it took for the DNR to coordinate these discussions and recognize all of the work that it took for community and advocacy organizations to come together for discussions with RDO. It is disturbing to us that RDO left the table. Since that time, Toxic Taters has reached out to RDO in an attempt further engage in conversation and work together. However, we have received no replies.
Toxic Taters and local residents have worked for years to encourage RDO to improve its environmental practices and would encourage state agencies to study the impacts of such practices on areas that have already been impacted by farming. However, we do not support the Pineland Sands Land and Water Study for the following reasons:
First, the study would necessitate clearcutting and likely damaging lands that have not been in potato production in the past.
Second, the study undermines environmental review, a long-standing public process. Rather than following standard MEPA procedures, the study comes out of a memorandum of understanding between a public agency and private corporation. It gives RD Offutt undue influence in designing and carrying out the study that will assist in determining future permitting decisions, in which they have a vested interest.
Finally, we are concerned that the legislature is entering into a long term significant expenditure of public funds - either taxpayer dollars from the general fund, or LCCMR funds intended for conservation projects. This project is not conservation, but an expansion of corporate agribusiness. The current request of $1.5 million is only for phase one of the project. We anticipate that future requests for phase two may be even more costly.
The work of Toxic Taters and many of the organizations signed below is to protect the land, air, water, and community for generations to come. We ask that you, our representatives, support this work by honoring the will of the residents of the Pinelands Sands Aquifer. We ask that you not fund Pineland Sands Land and Water Study and instead support efforts to decrease pesticide usage and promote more sustainable farming practices in areas already impacted by potato farming.
Thank you for your support on this issue.
Sincerely,
Amy S. Mondloch
Toxic Taters Coordinator
MPIRG, Green Island Preserve, Save Our Sky Blue Waters