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Jill Burcum's March 8 column "Smith Foundry report shows need for scrutiny" was a breath of fresh air in a state where it's becoming less easy to breathe without worry or drink the water without wondering what's in it. For too long state agencies have treated polluters like customers and have allowed their public purpose to be worn away by industry capture. We know this well in rural areas of the state, and greater Minnesota communities need the same legislative oversight that is called for in Burcum's column.

Just this past summer the Boswell coal plant in northern Minnesota spewed forth 5.5 million gallons of toxic ash water into Blackwater Lake and the Mississippi River, which locals use for fishing, gathering and recreation, and which the majority of the state's urban dwellers use for drinking water. Blackwater Lake is also an abundant manoomin/wild rice harvesting site that the region's Indigenous and non-Native ricing community relies on.

To date, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has still not concluded its investigation of that disaster nor meted out an appropriate punishment for the facility's violation of its duties to keep the river clean. Yet that didn't stop the MPCA's permitting staff from issuing a new permit to the plant in the meantime, one that didn't consider the damage done by the spill and didn't effectively limit sulfate pollution being discharged directly into a wild-rice water. People who use this waterway for harvesting manoomin are left wondering why their agency can't coordinate its permitting and enforcement arms, and still don't know if the rice this year will be there or will be safe to eat.

More generally throughout the state, the Department of Natural Resources has been allowing excessive harvest of timber in wildlife areas for years now, leading hunters and anglers to wonder why they pay taxes on their gear if the funds are not going to be used legally to protect the habitat they value. We're still waiting for a special investigation from the legislative auditor, and the minute that information is made available, the public expects the Legislature to act and bring DNR leaders into committee hearings to explain why we should continue to trust them with our wildlife lands.

Minnesotans are understandably concerned with climate change, and yet following landmark 2023 legislation to eliminate carbon-intensive energy generation, the MPCA has been trying to whittle away the "carbon-free" standard and keep the most-polluting trash burners and woody biomass plants within the definition of carbon-free energy. This flies in the face of legislative intent and will harm rural communities where garbage is burned and forests are leveled.

The Legislature needs to stop pushing industry bills to speed up permitting and get back to its job making sure that Minnesota's best environmental laws are more than just words on paper. Agency oversight is long overdue, and we demand it for the sake of our rural residents and the places we hold dear.

Hudson Kingston is legal director for CURE, a rural nonprofit organization working in the areas of climate, energy, rural democracy, water and connecting people with nature.