The following Summary of Key Recommendations is a "distilled" version of 5 issue papers being prepared and circulated in advance of the September 16th Envision Minnesota Citizens Convention at which the major party candidates for governor will serve as keynoters. Comments are encouraged as these recommendations will continue to be discussed and debated in advance of the convention. A policy ballot will be prepared. Please send any comments about the Envision Minnesota statement to: info@envisionminnesota.org

Download Envision Statement in pdf format.

Become a Citizen Visionary

 

At the outset let us acknowledge that, as Minnesotans, we live in a special and remarkable place. We have inherited this great state from the generations before us, clean and prosperous, and filled with natural abundance and a superior quality of life.

But as our state matures into a new century, what do we see when we imagine Minnesota, now and in the future? If you pause for a moment - if you close your eyes and set aside the immediate and the small which preoccupy us all - what kind of Minnesota do you envision for yourself and your great-grandchildren?

Particularly, consider our land, our water, and our air. Think about the natural look and feel of Minnesota and the trends and demographics which are affecting her. So done, each of us should be compelled to ask if we are doing what we must - whether as individuals, corporations, or communities - to assure that our actions today project and realize the vision we share for tomorrow?

Over the past six months, dozens of Minnesota leaders have enthusiastically responded to our call to do precisely that. Taking the long view, and working through a series of focus groups and team deliberations, the dedicated volunteers of the Envision Minnesota Project have endeavored to identify the most significant environmental priorities facing our state and to strategize about how we might address those priorities in a focused, thoughtful, meaningful way. This effort has been deliberately non-partisan in approach, bringing together individuals from all ideologies around a consent agenda that all Minnesotans should agree on.

What follows in this paper is a summary of the Project’s fundamental recommendations, divided into five critical areas:

Each of these summaries is necessarily brief, distilling as they do the key components of the longer, more detailed team reports in each subject area.

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I. Taking Responsibility By Valuing True Environmental Costs and Benefits.

The real, practical, political world is not amenable to a single, silver-bullet solution for our so-called “environmental” challenges (and we recognize that such challenges are as much or more about economic prosperity, energy security, and human health and well-being as they are anything else). Rather, as we envision Minnesota’s environmental future, we see a constellation of innovative incentives, policies, and public-private collaborations that can serve as effective tools to guide us as we press forward.

Such incentives, policies, and collaborations are, however, ultimately the byproduct of the individual decisions made by our state’s citizens and their political and corporate leaders.

Thus, as a necessary prerequisite to effective decision-making, we must assure that the scientific and economic information we use in Minnesota is, at the foundation, as complete, accurate and far-reaching as possible. It is axiomatic but true: the decisions we make - whether public or private, individual or collective - are only as sound as the data and reasoning which support them.

Too often, in our experience, the environmental decisions made in our state have been resolved without a full understanding or appreciation of the true collateral costs and benefits which follow. Too often, in particular, we’ve been penny-wise but pound-foolish because the longer-term costs associated with our decisions have not been adequately measured, monetized, or factored into our fluid cost-benefit calculus. Too often, in this arena, decisions have been distorted and short-sighted because our leaders have not had the resources to appreciate the truth that investment in environmental protection today will pay very real dividends tomorrow.

In order to remedy this fault and achieve better results from our environmental decisions, we must take action now to reform our information systems in order to identify and quantify the real costs to our environmental decisions and make this information readily available to decision-makers. We are convinced that when leaders recognize and appreciate the fully-quantified impact of their decisions they will then be better able and more likely to assess the true costs of those decisions (and who pays for them) against their real benefits, in the broadest sense.

Although the spin of political rhetoric may have the tendency to blur and blind, when the information generated by full-cost accounting is publicly available and transparent, we are all more likely to make good decisions and less susceptible to narrow influences.

With this in mind, we recommend to you the following specific initiatives:

A. Charge government agencies and private entities alike with the responsibility to collect and disseminate accurate data on the true long-term environmental costs and benefits of critical decisions;

B. Facilitate the application of this data in a disciplined way to every environmental decision we make in Minnesota;

C. Utilize market principles to price long-term environmental costs in order to (i) create viable incentives for positive voluntary action in the private sector while (ii) concurrently eliminating perverse subsidies that may support destructive activities and lead to environmentally harmful results; and

D. Encourage greater personal, corporate, and governmental responsibility by (i) aligning the environmental costs of decisions with those who benefit from them on a pay-as-you go basis and (ii) measuring programs as budgets are built at the state and local levels with “green-scissors” to trim away programs that may be counterproductive to a healthy environment.

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II. Leaving a Clean Water Legacy.

As Minnesotans, we often define ourselves by reference to our waters – as a land of lakes and rivers, great and small. These waters resonate in our names and they remain an intimate part of our identity. But our waters are also much more than the touchstone of cabin culture. They are also vital elements of our economy and essential to human health. Aside from the millions who embrace fishing and water sports for recreation and renewal, remember too that billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs in Minnesota also require that our waters remain clean enough to fish and swim. And aside from recreation and business, remember too that at some basic level we must keep our food and water pure enough that our people can eat and drink safely; and if we do not, there are very real costs (both social and economic) to that failure.

Yet remarkably, although our continued prosperity and health depend upon them, it is no exaggeration in the spring of 2006 to say that Minnesota’s waters are in crisis. By any reliable measure, a large (and increasing) percentage of our waters are impaired – whether because they are contaminated with neurotoxins like mercury or the filth of fecal coliform bacteria, or because they have been invaded by any number of non-native species that are changing our waters’ fundamental ecology.

Make no mistake, when this sad state of affairs begins to require explicit warnings from our state agencies that native-caught fish should not be eaten in quantity (as they have) and the courts begin to halt new development (as they have), we must reconcile ourselves to the true costs of water pollution and take concerted action to halt and remediate it.

With this in mind, we recommend to you the following specific initiatives:

A. Enact legislation for a Clean Water Legacy, with sufficient and dedicated funds allocated thereto, in order to improve water quality across Minnesota;

B. While understanding that solutions to the regional, national and international dimensions of the mercury problem lie largely beyond our borders, we must control what we can on the state and local levels and set high threshold targets for reducing emissions in Minnesota, and lobby our neighbors to do the same;

C. Fully enforce existing water quality laws with respect to septic, agricultural runoff, anti-erosion and other similar matters;

D. Encourage county and municipal action as the frontline for achieving local results;

E. Work proactively to educate agricultural producers, businesses and individuals about best practices for improving water quality; and

F. Fund a comprehensive, integrated program to control aquatic plants and invasive species.

* * *

III. Creating New Energy Sources and Saving Energy.

What has been long-recognized by many is now becoming clear, and personal, to all of us. Our collective dependence on non-renewable sources of energy threatens to leave us weak and vulnerable. Today, as a state, we effectively divest ourselves of eleven billion dollars ($11,000,000,000) each year to feed Minnesota’s need for petroleum, natural gas, and coal. That’s the bad news.

The good news, however, is that although Minnesota may be poor in fossil fuels, we are rich in ingenuity, technology, and potential (albeit non-traditional) energy resources. As a result, as we look to the future we optimistically (but realistically) envision a Minnesota uniquely placed to capitalize on ascendant, renewable sources of energy – from wind to bio-mass, from ethanol to geothermal energy. To be sure, that future will take the focus and dedication of entrepreneurs and universities, as well as the efforts of our governmental agencies and established businesses. But done well, creating new energy sources and conserving the energy we have promises to bring us a safer, cleaner, more prosperous tomorrow.

To that end, we recommend to you the following specific initiatives:

A. Facilitate the placement of investment capital to support the development of alternative energy technologies in the private sector;

B. Amend utility regulations to provide incentives that encourage utilities to embrace enhanced clean energy production and additional energy conservation initiatives.

C. Establish aggressive renewable energy goals and energy efficiency standards as a mechanism to create demand by “market pull”, across the board, for production of clean base-load electricity, capture of waste heat, and use of efficient automobiles, appliances, and buildings;

D. Recognizing that Rome was not built in a day, in the shorter term create a positive policy environment and incentives for (i) the continued pursuit of gasification and other “clean coal” technologies and (ii) the exploration and incubation of technologies that enhance the safety of nuclear power and address the challenges of waste management; and

E. Reward consumers and laud businesses that elect to modernize their cars and fleets with low-or-no emission vehicles through the implementation of creative incentives that encourage better transportation choices, such as the elimination of registration fees, free urban parking, and the use of limited-access roadways for these vehicles.

* * *

IV. Planning for Rapid Growth and Continued Prosperity.

It is well known that Minnesota is continuing to grow rapidly. For the last forty years or more, our urban and suburban areas have grown in roughly concentric circles, ever outward from their centers; and in the first quarter of this century projections suggest we can expect to welcome another 1.2 million new residents to the state.

Moreover, as the baby-boom generation ripens as a demographic force, we must recognize that it is influencing and reconfiguring the historical patterns of our growth and the future needs of our communities.

These trends can be immensely positive and are, of course, fed by some of our best attributes – including Minnesota’s sustained economic growth and a critical mass of talented and educated workers – which continue to pull newcomers from around the region, nation, and world.

But increasingly there is a genuine tension between the positive facets of growth and the rippling consequences that come with it, hand-in-hand. To name just a few, congestion on the roads saps productivity, increases pollution, and degrades civility; and outward pressure on available land stretches our infrastructure, amplifies public costs, and reduces critical habitat.

To reduce these points of tension (and thereby enhance Minnesota’s ability to sustain a blooming population without compromising economic growth), it is our belief that the state must expand its commitment to strategic and comprehensive planning, and we therefore recommend to you the following specific initiatives:

A. Provide state and private support for local planning centered on principles of balanced growth (and the implementation of those plans once made), particularly in the “collar” counties, out-state growth nodes, and communities where comprehensive plans are now absent;

B. Invest in targeted, strategic infrastructure (including multimodal mass transit) that is integrated with mandatory regional planning in rapidly growing areas of the state (both in the traditional metropolitan area and in greater Minnesota);

C. Promote and expand the private revitalization and redevelopment of existing neighborhoods and downtowns (in small towns as well as large cities) so as to maximize existing infrastructure;

D. Insist that all growth carry its own weight on the pay-go principal; while embracing genuine mutually-profitable collaboration between private developers, public entities, and non-profit stake holders; and

E. Provide leadership training and guidance to smaller communities to promote healthy local democracies that foster informed and effective decision-making at the local level.

* * *

V. Protecting Our Natural Heritage and Abundant Wildlife.

Finally, embedded in many of our previous recommendations, you will find the key issue of habitat. Plants and animals do of course require a physical place to be, and natural systems rarely are so malleable as to bend seamlessly to human pressures, intended or not.

If we are to preserve our native plants and animals – whether because we believe they bring us the sheer economic benefits of a tourist industry based on fishing, hunting, and the other field sports which have marked our state for generations, or because we believe those sports (and the mere existence of those remaining parts of our natural world which were first given to us) put us in touch with an ineffable spiritual texture that adds something to humanity – ultimately we must be wise stewards of their environment as well.

Facing competing demands, in recent decades we have not consistently made the types of public and private investments that are required to preserve and improve our remaining Minnesota habitat. Momentum is against us and deferred maintenance is catching up. Before we reach a tipping point, our state must act now to widely safeguard habitat.

With this in mind, we recommend to you the following specific initiatives:

A. Provide a long-term, stable, dedicated funding source for natural resources and wildlife habitat;

B. With an emphasis on wetland and grassland habitat, invest in and acquire lands for management and protection, particularly in instances where such acquisitions prevent fragmentation or can create buffers to streams and shorelines;

C. Bolster public-private collaboration for land preservation and habitat enhancement, including positive incentives, such as conservation easements;

D. Support state-local collaboration to significantly increase the enforcement of natural resource laws, and integrate fish and wildlife management with other related programs; and

E. Recognize the far-reaching, synergistic benefits to habitat protection created by many of the additional initiatives defined in our other Envision Minnesota policy categories, such as mercury reduction, protecting sensitive aquatic areas, local growth planning, and the like.

* * *

Conclusion

We don’t claim that any of the initiatives we propose here will be easy, necessarily. But all of them are achievable if we can muster the earnest leadership which we increasingly crave as a state.

Repeatedly in our discussions and work, we’ve recognized the vital need for public leadership – largely, although not exclusively, far-sighted political leadership. We understand of course that Minnesota, like any state, is faced with competing priorities; and as realists, as well as idealists, we respect the fact that those “other” priorities must be considered and weighed. But now recall the Minnesota you first envisioned in your mind’s eye: when the rubber meets the road, the issues we’ve identified and the initiatives we’ve suggested in this project have the potential to echo in Minnesota for generations.

As written and summarized by Evan B. Rice, of Faegre & Benson LLP, as State Coordinator of REP America.

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