Governor Mark Dayton takes public input at his second town hall meeting on water quality tonight (630pm start) in Mankato, with another forum Thursday night in Marshall. State Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine says at the first meeting in Rochester people called for change that improves water quality. Stine says, “There’s a lot of interest in things that can be done that shape behavior without a drastic requirement or law or statute or some kind of a legislated action.” But he says others tell officials there *is* a need for further action by the state. More meetings are next month in Crookston, Saint Cloud, Ely, Bemidji and the Twin Cities.
Stine says among topics of discussion at the first meeting in Rochester was the state’s new buffer law to control runoff from farm fields into rivers and lakes. He says the question is, what will be the path to success for the program? “We want to make sure that the steps that are taken are done in a way that agriculture producers, farmers and the business community… can embrace and can move forward,” Stine says.