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The MPCA lost credibility

To the editor:

The credibility of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is on the ropes. The recent article in The Journal (MPCA says Minnesota River water quality is suffering, Oct. 3, 2017) and the MPCA report on which the article is based, demonstrate their extreme bias against agriculture.

The article and the report imply that agriculture is primarily responsible for the sediment, bacteria, phosphorus and nitrate levels in the Minnesota River today. At no point were the natural background levels of these constituents even mentioned. It is a well established scientific and ecological principle that all ecosystems have some level of delivery of water quality impurities.

Part of the intention of the 2006 Clean Water Legacy Act (CWLA) was to require the MPCA to quantify natural background levels for all water quality standards, so that improving water quality problems could be properly and efficiently focused. It doesn’t make sense to try to improve on “Mother Nature.” Trying to do so would be a huge waste of time, effort and dollars.

The article and the MPCA report it references are clearly blaming agriculture for Mother Nature’s contributions by intentionally not accounting for natural background levels as the CWLA intended. The vast majority of sediments, bacteria, phosphorus and nitrates, which the MPCA measured, are part of the natural background category. The MPCA is aware of this; however, by not explaining this fact to the public it gives the impression that agriculture is responsible. This is extremely unethical of the MPCA and borders on fraud.

How many more public and private dollars will be wasted before state agencies, like the MPCA, will be held accountable for their actions? Water quality is not a complex issue. Those that want to make it appear complex are doing so in order to push a political agenda.

Farmers are good stewards of the land, and agricultural ecosystems are as good for water quality as any other ecosystem on the landscape. Scientific evidence can document this.

It is time that public agencies, like the MPCA, and their employees are held accountable when they misrepresent scientific data and facts. The media needs to understand these issues enough to make sure they are not being manipulated by the state agencies.

Keith Lendt

President

Brown County Corn & Soybean Growers Association

Greg Bartz

President

Brown County Farm Bureau

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The Journal welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed, with address and telephone number for verification purposes. We do not publish unsigned letters. Address letters to: Letters to the Editor, The Journal, P.O. Box 487, New Ulm MN 56073-0487, or e-mail them to editor@nujournal.com.

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