Reforming Environmental Review: Minnesota

Previously published in "Bench & Bar of Minnesota" Vol. 67, No. 1, January 2010

Since the early days of the environmental movement Minnesota has been a leader in environmental protection, but the environmental review process today has become so complex and inefficient that neither effective environmental protection nor expeditious implementation of needed projects is assured. Reform of the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act is a necessary first step to restore its effectiveness for all concerned.

Most memorable 1970s Minnesota moments? How about Gov. Wendell Anderson holding a northern pike on the cover of Time proclaiming "The Good Life in Minnesota"? Is playing and losing four Superbowls a good memory or a bad one? Minnesota was a technology leader, with Seymour Cray leading the way with a "supercomputer" capable of making 240,000 calculations per second (your cell phone can now do better than that). If you were around you might have been recovering from your