Changes to Minnesota wetland rule pass House committee

St. Paul — The Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Policy Committee approved H.F. 8 on Thursday, Feb. 13 – Wetland Conservation Act amendments – in a party-line vote of 7-5 in favor of it advancing to the labor committee.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, would amend portions of the Wetland Conservation Act to try to streamline the permitting process for businesses. As approved, it would limit the number of people who can comment on a proposed project, dedicate a new full-time position to overseeing applications, and remove redundancies in the permitting process.

The Wetland Conservation Act originally passed in 1991 with the goal of no net loss of wetlands around the state. There have since been various changes to the act, with the most recent amendments in 2024 and 2017.

But this year’s proposed changes take aim at the whole permit processing side under the WCA.

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Heintzeman, the committee chair, sought the changes after a report found that Minnesota takes one and a half to six times longer to issue permits to companies seeking to operate in Minnesota.

“We all want clean air, we all want clean water, we all want clean land. And this bill does not do anything to remove those protections that are currently in statute,” Heintzeman said.

During the more than two-hour-long committee meeting, DFL members primarily were concerned that the changes could potentially make it easier for environmentally destructive companies to not be as scrutinized in the process.

Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis, was concerned that only 100 people living within or adjacent to the county in which a project is planned would be able to offer public comment. Coming from a district with many renters in Minneapolis, she said she’s concerned that restricting who may comment might affect air and water quality in areas beyond county lines.

“This bill would limit their ability to comment on their drinking water, on the air they breathe. … Air doesn’t care about your county line,” Jordan said.

Rep. Alex Falconer, DFL-Eden Prairie, said that streamlining the permitting process for small agriculture companies could open the door for mining companies to potentially receive permits faster.

Falconer pointed to previous attempts by an international companies to open a sulfide-ore copper mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and how those companies may see this as an opportunity to move in with minimal public feedback.   

“This goes against the ethos and the way of life Minnesotans have come to appreciate as far as conserving and protecting our natural lands,” Falconer said. 

Heintzeman repeated that the proposed changes won’t help any one specific industry or type of company, but rather simplify the process across the board.

“There’s no one industry that is being targeted,” he said.

He also added that the intent of the changes isn’t to lower standards for what is expected of companies that operate in Minnesota. 

Even though DFLers urged that the bill come back to the environment committee with some clarifications, instead it will later be discussed by the Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy.

This environment committee approval of the WCA bill came just a few hours after the nonprofit Save the Boundary Waters hosted a press conference outlining Rep. Falconer and Sen. Steve Cwodzinski’s (DFL-Eden Prairie) BWCAW permanent protection bills.   

The bills would prohibit any sulfide-ore copper mining on state lands in the BWCAW watershed.

On the federal level, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-8th, who represents northeastern Minnesota, has introduced a bill to reverse the Biden administration’s 20-year moratorium on such mining practices in the Rainy River Watershed around the BWCAW.

Falconer also authored H.F. 954, which would pause issuing or reviewing sulfide ore mine permits. If passed, the moratorium would begin the day after it is approved and pause any sulfide ore projects that already had begun the environmental review process.

Other bills

Playing catch-up after pausing work for a few weeks at the start of session, House bills are hitting the table.

• H.F. 411 and H.F. 413 aim to change statutes to allow people age 65 years or older to get their fishing licenses for free.

• House Republicans introduced H.F. 451, which aims to repeal the Board of Water and Soil Resources’ Lawns to Legumes program. The program offers grants to Minnesotans who want to make their lawns more pollinator- and native-species friendly.

• Republican Rep. Matt Bliss, of Pennington, authored H.F. 529, which would prevent recipients of dollars from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, Parks and Trails Fund, Clean Water Fund, and Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund – Legacy amendment dollars – to spend money on overhead costs. Overhead costs would be expenses such as rent, insurance, utilities, or building maintenance that doesn’t go toward the project that received the dollars originally.

Bliss also authored H.F. 530 to require a supermajority vote in the House and Senate for state land more than 640 acres to be sold for below market value.

• Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, authored several bills that hit the floor on Thursday, Feb. 13. First off, he introduced H.F. 611 to amend the ages of who can fish without a license in Minnesota. This bill would allow youth up to the age of 18 to fish or hunt small game without a license. H.F. 613 would allow the use of straight-wall cartridge ammunition in legal firearms in the state.

• Reps. John Burkel, R-Badger, and Nathan Nelson, R-Hinckley, authored H.F. 649, to authorize a wolf hunt if the species is delisted federally.