Conferees agree on omnibus environment bill

Conferees on the omnibus environment, natural resources policy and finance bill reached agreement Monday evening on a final version of the bill.

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau) and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria), HF888*/SF723 would appropriate more than $800 million during the upcoming biennium for the state’s environment and natural resources efforts and provide a number of policy provisions.

The direct appropriations for the upcoming biennium in the bill include:

• Department of Natural Resources - $544.02 million
• Pollution Control Agency - $187.7 million
• Explore Minnesota - $29.39 million
• Board of Water and Soil Resources - $27.36 million
• Minnesota Zoo - $17.22 million
• Metropolitan Council - $17.08 million
• Science Museum of MN - $2.16 million
• Conservation Corps - $1.89 million
• School Trust Administration - $1.1 million

The bill would also extend the date for buffers or alternative water quality practices to be in place by two years – from 2017 to 2019 for public waters and 2018 to 2020 for public ditches. It would also modify the buffer requirements so that 50-foot buffers would be needed on public waters classified as “shoreland,” while public waters without that classification would only need a 16.5foot buffer.