Wetlands bill passes removing construction roadblocks

The red light holding up a number of county road construction projects may turn green after the House passed HF434 Thursday by a 126-0 vote.

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau), the bill would appropriate $5 million for the Board of Soil and Water Resources to acquire wetland banking credits and temporarily loosen other restrictions regarding wetlands replacement.

At issue is Minnesota’s Local Road Wetland Replacement Program, which began in the mid-1990s after the Legislature adopted a “no net loss” wetlands policy. State statutes require BWSR to replace wetlands lost during certain road construction projects.

This is done by establishing new wetlands, with the agency using credits from “wetland service banks” (wetlands acquired in other areas) to facilitate these exchanges. However, a number of banks no longer have credits to offer because they haven’t received state funding for the new wetlands.

That’s a problem for counties ready to begin road construction when the ground thaws. Several road projects around the state are impacted by the issue and may not go forward without this new funding.

HF434 now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria) is the sponsor.