Pawlenty vetoes education, research projects

07/02/2005

Tom Meersman,
Star Tribune
July 2, 2005

The bill that kept the gates open in Minnesota’s state parks has closed the doors on $6.8 million in projects for environmental education, alternative energy and climate change research.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty used his authority to line-item veto those and other items before signing the agriculture, environment and jobs bill late Thursday.

Many of the projects were appropriations from the state’s environment and natural resources trust fund, which includes proceeds from the state lottery.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Pawlenty said the projects did not fully meet state constitutional requirements that the trust fund be used “for the public purpose of protection, conservation, preservation and enhancement of the state’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife and other natural resources.”

Brian McClung, the governor’s spokesman, emphasized that Pawlenty wants to ensure that money allocated from the lottery proceeds does not begin to “creep away from the original intent” of the fund. But environmental leaders disagreed and were upset.

“These are very sound conservation and energy projects that would have better protected the water and clean up the air,” said Ron Kroese, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, which represents 90 conservation and environmental groups. “The vetoes are a real insult to the people of Minnesota.”

Among the vetoed projects:

• $150,000 for the Science Museum of Minnesota to create exhibits and traveling programs to educate students about ground water; $75,000 for a different group to train Twin Cities high school students and teachers in environmental problem-solving.

• $250,000 for climate change research on aquatic systems by the University of Minnesota’s Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth.

• $350,000 to install vegetated roofs on four buildings in Roseville and Falcon Heights to monitor their effects in reducing runoff and improving water quality.

• $295,000 to upgrade and overhaul the Blue Heron, a research vessel used by the University of Minnesota to study the Great Lakes.

• $500,000 to establish a revolving loan fund in Aitkin, Cass and Crow Wing counties to improve land management and wildlife habitat.

• $250,000 to help Hennepin County map and prioritize natural areas that need to be protected or restored.

• $466,000 to plant 1,000 acres of trees as part of a biomass power plant project in northern Minnesota.

• $900,000 to the Phillips Community Energy Cooperative in south Minneapolis to help build a district energy system fueled by wood waste.

• $450,000 for the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, a group of 10 senators and 10 representatives who evaluate projects to be funded by the lottery proceeds and recommend finalists to the Legislature. Pawlenty and others want to replace the commission with an 11-member citizen group.

The governor also vetoed $2.4 million for the Minnesota Conservation Corps, a nonprofit group that was slated to receive money from a different fund and that works on environmental improvement projects.

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura also vetoed three lottery-funded environmental projects in 1999 and two in 2001, but in at least one case, the Legislature reappropriated the money the next year.