The Land Stewardship Project works for solutions to the healthcare crisis in rural Minnesota because we know that lack of affordable, high-quality care is a major barrier to having thriving rural communities with more farmers on the land. We are pleased to see that Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan’s proposed Budget for… Read More →
Science & Public Record Ignored by MPCA’S Failure to Order EIS on Daley Mega-Dairy Expansion LEWISTON, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is challenging in court the recent decision by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to reject the public’s call for an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed massive expansion of… Read More →
UPDATE (10/10/18): We have learned that Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine is making a decision on this tomorrow, and we need calls into him by noon on Thursday, Oct. 11. We need to take action to ensure that there is a process that provides for meaningful public participation and that fully evaluates… Read More →
Legislature Steals $1 Billion of Funding Dedicated for MinnesotaCare & Medical Assistance The Minnesota Legislature appears to be close to finalizing a budget for the next two years that cuts Health and Human Services funding by more than $100 million and guts almost the entire $1 billion Health Care Access Fund reserve. These cuts will… Read More →
Farmers, Nurses, Care Providers & People of Faith Question Major Cuts in Time of Budget Surplus SAINT PAUL, Minn. — State lawmakers are pushing public healthcare cuts that could affect more than a million Minnesotans. The Legislature has less than three weeks to agree on a state budget with Governor Mark Dayton, but the Republican… Read More →
WINONA, Minn. — An attorney with a Minneapolis-based business law firm filed a lawsuit this week against Winona County, challenging the county’s ordinance that bans any new frac sand operations. The firm, Larkin Hoffman, is among the largest in Minnesota and has often been associated with frac sand interests, including the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council.… Read More →
It’s no secret that federally subsidized crop insurance makes it more attractive to till land that normally would be too wet, steep, lacking in fertility or otherwise “marginal” to raise a profitable crop on. But a recent study out of the University of Wisconsin attaches some solid numbers to just how much marginal land we’re… Read More →
The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) voted this week to remove the Erickson silica sand mine in Houston County from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. At the same meeting, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner made it clear that the mine requires a… Read More →
One recent August day, I stood in a field in North Dakota watching soil being spaded up and listening to farmers talk about the optimal cover crop seeding mixes, how long to mob graze a paddock and which no-till equipment does the best job of cutting through last year’s plant residue. It was 90 degrees… Read More →
In late May, I traveled to western Wisconsin’s Chippewa and Barron counties to see frac sand mining and processing sites firsthand. I particularly wanted to see the EOG processing plant in Chippewa Falls — one of the largest of its kind in existence — because last year, a company called Minnesota Proppant proposed an even… Read More →
