Legislature moves to adjust farm buffer requirement
The Minnesota Senate voted unanimously Thursday to adjust the statewide buffer-strip requirements lawmakers passed last year.
Changes to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton’s signature water-quality initiative were needed after farmers began complaining about the state’s plan to enforce the buffer requirement along private ditches.
Dayton had agreed already to pull back on the buffer-strip plan. He told reporters in January that he'd ordered state conservation officials to stop mapping private ditches after pushback from Republicans and landowners.
The bill backed in the Senate Thursday essentially codifies that move.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Buffers help protect water from farm field runoff. Dayton's made water quality and buffer strips a key part of his intended legacy in his last years in office. The Legislature last year backed a scaled down effort to require buffers.
But while there was consensus on the plan for public waterways, farmers and farm groups remained concerned about the law's intentions when it came to ditches on private land.
The law requires strips on ditches in areas that would benefit public waterways, but farm groups say private ditches were never meant to be part of the deal. Dayton in January said he pulled back on the private ditch effort after Republicans threatened to torpedo other water quality projects.
The revisions passed Thursday by the Senate will take some of the heat out of the controversy, said bill sponsor Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook.
“One would not think that such a noble idea that had potential for such positive outcomes for the state could have been as controversial as it turned out," he said, "but there was uncertainty with regard to where these filtering grass strips were going to be located.”
The House is expected to pass the same bill.
Dayton, who previously said he was disappointed by the controversy, praised the revisions and said he plans to sign the bill. Here's a statement from his office:
“I thank Senator Rod Skoe for his leadership on this bill, which will clarify the buffer law passed by the Legislature last year. It provides greater certainty for landowners and gives local officials better tools for proper enforcement."
“More and more citizens and communities throughout Minnesota are being threatened by water that is unsafe for their drinking, washing, and recreation. These water quality problems must be addressed by all of us recognizing our shared need for safe and clean water, and our by shared willingness to protect this priceless resource.
"I again thank Senator Skoe for his excellent work on this important issue, and I look forward to signing the bill.”