Agency Effectiveness: A Letter to Governor Walz

Uncategorized

Dear Governor Walz,

We write out of concern over a disturbing trend in the executive branch of our government. Policy decisions are being made regarding the environment which are antithetical to important goals of the DFL Environmental Caucus. These concerns are reflected in a letter dated December 11, 2023, to the governor’s office, from contact person Don Arnosti, signed by several dozen individuals and representing as many organizations, concerning “Community Members’ Request for Regulatory Accountability”. (Enclosed)

All Minnesotans deserve, need and want clean air, clean water, access to a protected natural landscape, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, and a livable planet. As a caucus, we advance these goals within the DFL party and more broadly. We take the concerns expressed in the letter seriously, and frankly, expect more from you and our state agencies.

The DFL Environmental Caucus has fought attempts to weaken environmental policy and supported decisions that fund and empower our agencies to safeguard health, to conserve and protect shared resources, and to honor tribal rights to hunt, fish and gather. The DFL’s action agenda and DFL Party Platform call for addressing many of these issues. We call on you to refocus your priorities on the health and safety of your citizens over the desires of multinational corporations. We call on you to direct state agencies to enforce regulations that already exist and to strengthen those that are weak. We call on you to increase accountability and transparency in all state agencies. The DFL Environmental Caucus will continue to hold educational forums, endorse and help elect environmental champions, and advocate for action on climate and other environmental issues to protect what humans need and love!

As a start, we would like to request an early February meeting with you to review our concerns and discuss policy and regulatory changes to correct these issues. Please contact Megan Bond at 562.826.6254 or mdbond82@gmail.com to set up the meeting.

Under your leadership, our 2023 legislature passed landmark legislation on climate, lead removal, environmental justice, and more. We are grateful for the progress our state has made. But we have much more work to do and are counting on you, Governor Walz, to lead the way.

Sincerely,

Bond, Chair and members of the DFL Environmental Caucus executive committee

What To Do About Plastics

Environmental Issues, Forums and Events

We were joined by Jennifer Congdon, Deputy Director of Beyond Plastics, and Lori Olinger, Zero Waste Chair of the Sierra Club Northstar Chapter, to discuss the problems of plastics and how to address them. Here is the forum:

Caucus members are hard at work in developing resolutions related to plastic and waste, as well as water-related resolutions (see previous forum). Please consider joining us in this activity!

When breakthrough technology that isn’t really breakthrough technology breaks through

Climate Change, Climate Change and Energy Transition, Uncategorized

Two very important papers are just out by Joe Romm. Hae a look.

1) Why scaling bioenergy and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is impractical and would speed up global warming

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has generated great interest as global emissions have soared to 50 billion tons (Gt) a year of CO2 equivalent. In theory, biomass could remove CO2 out of the air as it grows, and a CCS system on the bioenergy power plant could permanently bury the CO2, making BECCS potentially a “negative” emissions technology.

But a growing body of research casts doubt on whether either bioenergy or BECCS are scalable climate solutions—or solutions at all. Those doubts are reinforced by findings from the first dynamic, integrated global modeling of BECCS by the researchers of Climate Interactive:

Click through to see the entire paper.

2) Why direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) is not scalable and ‘net zero’ is a dangerous myth

As global emissions have soared to 50 billion tons (Gt) of CO2 equivalent, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies have generated great interest. The three most widely analyzed and modeled are direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), which pulls CO2 directly out of the air and stores it underground; planting trees; and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, whereby growing biomass removes CO2 from the air and a CCS system on the bioenergy plant could permanently bury it.

In theory, by combining deep emissions cuts (achieved by substituting carbon-free energy for fossil fuels) with a scaled-up CDR effort, we could bring total emissions down to “net zero.” But as other white papers in this series have explained, scaling tree planting faces major challenges, and scaling BECCS is impractical and would speed up global warming this century.

Click through to see the entire paper.

Is My Well Water Safe?

Environmental Issues, Environmental Poisons, Forums and Events

On October 29th, we held a forum on well water quality, pursuant to developing resolutions for the upcoming caucus-convention cycle.

We were joined by Rochester Geologist Jeff Broberg and MCEA’s Carly Griffith to learn about nitrate and arsenic contaminants in Minnesota’s well water. This forum was cohosted by the DFL Environmental Caucus and the DFL Rural Caucus.

See also: Southeast Minnesota struggles for common ground on nitrate pollution as health worries rise

For the latest on Nitrates in Minnesota’s drinking water, see this: EPA says Minnesota needs to take more action on nitrates in drinking water

Without Resolutions It Is Hard To Have An Environmental Revolution!

Environmental Issues

Each election cycle,the caucus generates a number of resolutions for our members (and others) to bring to their caucus, in the hopes that our aspirations will eventually turn into DFL party platform planks.

Our current resolutions, some of which did become planks, not only show you what we produced two years ago, but also, indicate the overall policy preferences of the caucus.

HERE you are welcome to fill in a form expressing your ideas for resolutions for the next cycle. Please try to do this soon. We will be writing, crafting, and finalizing our resolutions before the end of the year, for distribution to our membership in time for the caucuses on February 27th.

Please bring resolutions to your caucus, and please run to be a delegate to your Senate or Organizing Unit convention!

Miranda Pacheco for Duluth City Council

Uncategorized

The DFLEC endorses Miranda Pacheco for Duluth City Council At-large.

Miranda moved to Duluth to attend a drug treatment center, and went on to work at the places that helped her. It was in Duluth that she connected with her Ojibwe roots, and she earned an associate degree from Fond du Lac Community College. She is now earning a social work degree from the College of St. Scholastica and is fighting every day for people that need support. Protecting the land and water is one of her core values.

Please visit Miranda’s web site and see how you can help her out!

Salaam Witherspoon for Duluth City Council

Uncategorized

The DFL Environmental Caucuis Endorsement Committee unanimously recommends Salaam Witherspoon for Duluth’s Fourth District City Council seat.

Salaam was born and raised in Duluth as the youngest of eleven children, and is now a mother herself. She believes that too often people who are impacted by a decision are not at the table when the decision is being made. For example, housing projects are created before asking what the people who need housing want. Public health is a big concern of hers, and she has been a community organizer for CHUM. She is willing to listen to the views of constituents on all sides of issues but in the end, will do what she believes is best. She stated that sulfide mining is not safe, not matter how it’s proposed, and she plans to listen to volunteer voices as she crafts legislation.

Visit Salaam’s site here, and please lend her a hand!