ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is retracting a proposal that could have resulted in thousands of dollars in fines for farmers who are even a few feet out of compliance with buffer zones across their entire property.
A House panel conducted an emergency hearing Thursday to discuss the matter after learning of BWSR’s proposal to fine farmers out of compliance with Minnesota’s riparian buffer law by up to $500 per linear foot.
Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, chairs the House Agriculture Policy Committee which conducted the hearing and he said testifiers made it clear many questions remain regarding who has jurisdiction in regard to enforcement.
“Concern was expressed about how much local control counties and watersheds have in terms of penalties, size of penalties and actual practices that would qualify in place of buffers,” Anderson said. “The BWSR folks told us that they will be withdrawing this plan that they put out just last week as an alternative. So many negative comments were received that the plan, I think, was going to be voted down at a BWSR meeting yet this week. So that plan will be going away, but still questions remain. We have to look into how much authority local folks have and will BWSR have authority to say you have to qualify at least with the state standards, or can local units of governments come up with their own standards relating to the buffer law.”
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