ST. PAUL – House Agriculture Committee Chair Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, issued the following statement in response to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announcing Thursday permit fees for feedlots would increase by 48 and 56 percent starting Friday:
“These are steep increases, and the MPCA’s lack of communication and how suddenly this is happening just adds insult to injury,” Anderson said. “The MPCA held more than a dozen feedlot rulemaking meetings around the state and never once mentioned a fee increase. The Aug. 1 rollout feels arbitrary and could’ve easily been delayed to give farmers more time to prepare. On top of that, the DNR just raised water appropriation permit fees, making irrigation even more expensive. Our state government is hitting agriculture hard at a time when farmers are already struggling.”
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