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Great Lakes
Article:
Funding
for water cleanup delayed
By Dennis Lien
Pioneer Press
Published May 5, 2004
The Senate Taxes Committee on Tuesday set aside until
next year a proposal to pay for a looming billion-dollar
cleanup effort for lakes and rivers.
By then, the committee said, a group of proponents and
Gov. Tim Pawlenty should have a better sense of how to
pay for the steps required by the federal Clean Water
Act.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, isn't
sure an extra year's study will produce anything. "I
hope everyone will agree to something, but I wouldn't
hold my breath on that,'' he said.
Marty wanted to raise income taxes $100 million a year
to pay for the systematic evaluation and restoration of
Minnesota's lakes and rivers. Under the federal requirements,
states must bring them within water-quality standards
for such uses as swimming and fishing.
A diverse group of organizations and agencies spent much
of last year studying how to accomplish that and recommended
a water fee on households and businesses to raise $75
million a year. But Pawlenty rejected that approach, and
Marty, seeing no comparable legislation to pay for it,
introduced his bill.
Despite the bill's limited progress, Marty said he hopes
committee discussions have helped legislators understand
the issue's importance.
The polluted-water problem is bigger in Minnesota than
in other states because Minnesota has more lakes and rivers.
And typically, 40 percent of lakes and rivers that are
tested fail water-quality standards and are subject to
cleanups.
Last year, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimated
it would cost $600 million to $3 billion just to clean
up the lakes and rivers already identified. So far, that
represents only 8 percent of the state's river miles and
14 percent of its lakes.
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