One of the first orders of business in the House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee this year was an Environmental Protection Agency directive to address drinking water contamination caused by nitrogen fertilizer.
One of the committee’s final actions could be passage of a finance and policy bill with short-term solutions to help families get clean water.
Sponsored by Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL-Brooklyn Center), HF3763, as amended, calls for about $4.5 million in supplemental spending with most going for nitrate treatment.
Spending and policy provisions covering pesticides, fertilizers, grain elevators and grant programs are included in the bill, which members walked through Tuesday. Amendments could be added Thursday before a committee vote.
The bill would appropriate $4.3 million from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture, with $3.1 million going to address drinking water contaminated with nitrates. The department has proposed economic assistance for things such as reverse osmosis systems. Priority would be given to residences with pregnant people, small children or infants.
Other General Fund appropriations include:
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In future years, money for a private well drinking water assistance program operated by county health boards would come from a 40 cent per ton fertilizer fee, which currently funds the Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council until June 30, 2025.
Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck) said it is almost ethically wrong to take those dollars and use them for a state purpose.
Republicans also balked at a provision that would repurpose interest from the grain indemnity fund to fund farmer’s market equipment grants.
Other provisions in the bill would:
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What’s in the bill?
The following are selected bills that have been incorporated in part or in whole into the agriculture finance and policy bill: