Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
  • The Latest
    • 40th Anniversary Events
    • Tell us an LSP Story
    • Songs for the Soil
    • CSA Farm Directory
    • Upcoming Events
    • News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • LSP in the News
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • Land Stewardship Letter
    • LIVE-WIRE Sign-up
    • Myth Busters
    • Fact Sheets
    • Farm Crisis Resources
  • For Farmers & Landowners
    • New Farmers
      • Farm Beginnings Class
      • Journeyperson Course
      • Farm Dreams Workshop
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Accessing Farmland
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Beginning Farmer Profiles
    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Conservation Leases
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Creating Change
    • Community-Based Food Systems
      • Community Food Webs Learning Circles
    • Policy Campaigns
      • Soil Health & Climate Change
      • Healthcare
      • Factory Farms
      • Federal Policy
      • State Policy
      • Developing Leadership
      • Caucus for Land Stewardship
    • Justice & Stewardship
    • Organizational Stewardship
    • Building People Power
  • Get Involved
    • Take Action!
    • Upcoming Events
    • Land Stewardship Action Fund
    • Connect with LSP
      • Stay Connected
      • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
      • Shop
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Legacy Giving
    • Network with LSP Members
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Soil Health
  • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
  • Stay Connected
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
Search
More...

Take Action to Protect Environmental Review from Corporate Interests

April 12, 2019

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • email

Imagine opening your local newspaper on a Monday morning and discovering that a 5,000-head factory hog farm or an 6,000-head mega-dairy is being proposed in your township — and the public comment period ends that very weekend!

We deserve the right to have a voice when major decisions that could impact the health of our communities are being made. It is the role of our public institutions, like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), to act in the best interests of the public and make sure our voices are heard — our public comment period rights are instrumental to this.

Unfortunately, many folks reading this e-mail have had the experience of learning at the last-minute that a factory farm or other major development is proposed for their community. Rural residents and family farmers have to hunt in their local newspapers to find out about proposals in their communities, and by the time they do, it may be too late. Over the past year, Land Stewardship Project members have fought for and won public comment period extensions for proposed factory farms to give communities a fair chance to engage and respond.

Corporate ag interests sued the MPCA over a two-week comment period extension in October and lost — now they’re trying to change the law at the expense of rural communities and family farmers.

We know why they are doing this. Corporate interests do not want you and other rural community members to be heard. We need to take action now to protect our rights.

Take Action NOW!

The Minnesota Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Finance Omnibus Bill (SF 2314; Ingebrigtsen, Ruud, Tomassoni) contains a provision that would limit the public comment period on any environmental assessment worksheets (EAWs) to 30 days, unless approved by the project’s proposer. This applies to proposed factory farms and all other projects required to complete an EAW.

This corporate proposal would strip the ability for the state to extend a comment period when it’s in the best interest of the public, and give that authority to the proposer of a large-scale proposal. The fact is, the public comment period is rarely extended — and when it is, it is to ensure the public has an appropriate amount of time to understand and comment on the proposal.

This bill is heading to the floor of the Senate. We need our Senators to put the interests of Minnesotans before those of corporate proposals that have the potential to severely impact the health, quality-of-life, and viability of rural communities and family farmers.

Take action NOW — tell your Senator to speak up and oppose this provision, and tell Governor Tim Walz that his leadership is needed to protect our voices!

Category: Action Alerts

Contact

Amanda Babcock, LSP, e-mail, 612-722-6377

Montevideo

117 South First Street
Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

180 E. Main Street
Lewiston, MN 55952

(507) 523-3366

Minneapolis

821 E. 35th Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407

(612) 722-6377

Copyright © 2023 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/take-action-to-protect-environmental-review-from-corporate-interests