Why weak water protection? The answers are murky.

Many communities throughout Minnesota are going through the early stages of water quality issues with the likelihood that the situation will worsen. Bottom line: the state does not have a comprehensive water management plan and the Walz administration’s solution was to form a task force to come up with recommendations by June 2025.  We are waiting. 

In May 2012, the University of Minnesota issued a report, “Water Scarcity In Minnesota,” that concluded that water demand was growing faster than supply and “that the state would need to reduce water consumption by 35% over the next 25 years.”

Not only did Governors Dayton and Walz as well as the Minnesota Legislature (both parties) ignore all these warnings, but they took the state in the opposite direction by strongly supporting foreign mining conglomerates who were seeking permits to mine copper, nickel and zinc in the more water-intense areas of northern Minnesota. The process is known as sulfide mining because it releases acids and toxic metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury into the waters and they last for centuries.

Tom Landwehr, former Department of Natural Resources commissioner under Gov. Dayton, acknowledged the power of the mining interests when he stated in a July 7, 2022, interview with the Minnesota Reformer that it was “almost impossible to update regulations because of political pressure” and went on to accuse legislators of “threatening to cut DNR funding if the agency tries to tighten its rules.”

This fierce loyalty to foreign mining interests continues to this day. Part of this is Iron Range politics and the demands their legislative leaders make on DFL primary candidates. But there is something more compelling: money. In May 2021, the Humphrey School of Public Policy at the University of Minnesota issued a study that found that wealthy contributors were accorded special favors by the Legislature including the opportunity to “shape” legislation. More basic, it is influence peddling and is totally illegal.

Three months later, we issued the report “The Future Is Today” that focused on the massive fundraising operations of all four legislative caucuses. For the 2020 elections, they amassed over $26.5 million, or $130,000 per incumbent. And this did not come from neighborhood gatherings.

Favored treatment was also accorded the mining industry. In late 2018, officials at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency were exposed for keeping vital pollution information from the public during the mining permit process. This was a considerable benefit for PolyMet, which is owned by Glencore, a foreign mining conglomerate that pled guilty in federal district court in May 2022 to the criminal charge of bribing public officials and market manipulation and agreed to a fine of $1.1 billion.

In 2023, the Minnesota Supreme Court severely chastised the agency and revoked the permit. However, to this day, neither Gov. Walz nor Attorney General Keith Ellison launched any investigations or did anything to hold these agency officers accountable. Instead, they were retained, granted pay raises, and one was made assistant commissioner of the DNR.

Obviously, an investigation would seek the leader who gave the illegal order, and that would bring in the governor’s office.

The state’s inaction has now caused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to demand that the state take immediate action and, according to an MPR newscast, “if they don’t, they will step in and use their independent authority to make sure it happens.” Frankly, that is the kind of talk that is long overdue.

For over five years, we have been seeking to obtain straight answers from Gov. Walz and legislators about why the state is entrusting our precious water to a foreign corporate felon and why the Legislature has refused for five straight years to conduct hearings on bills designed to protect our water. Our question: If it is not money, then what is it?

Arne H. Carlson, Retired Governor, Lake City

Tom Berkelman, Retired legislator, DFL, Duluth

Janet Entzel, Retired legislator, DFL, Minneapolis

Duke Skorich, Zenith Research, Duluth

This is a reprint from the West Central Tribune.