Tomorrow’s EQB meeting: Greenhouse Gas pilot project vote

 From the email announcement by the Environmental Quality Board:

EQB announcement

Environmental Quality Board Meeting September 15, 2021  We invite you to join the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) at their next meeting on September 15, 2021 from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EQB will convene its September Board meeting virtually through the Webex platform. Instructions for connecting to Webex are available here. Access link to September 15, 2021 Board Meeting September 2021, EQB Meeting Packet Accessibility: This material can be provided in different forms, like large print, braille, or on a recording. Please contact EQB staff by email at least one week prior to the event at to arrange an accommodation.

From the Board Packet:

Environmental Quality Board meeting agenda item 

4. Approval of resolution to implement a pilot program for integrating climate change information into the Environmental Review Program**
The Board will consider passage of a resolution directing EQB staff to implement a pilot program to evaluate revisions to the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) form that include questions for
greenhouse gas quantification and assessment as well as adaptation and resiliency information.Presenter: Denise Wilson, Environmental Review Director, EQB (denise.wilson@state.mn.us)Materials enclosed:
• Project background (page 5)
• Resolution (page 6)
• Revised EAW form – draft (page 10)
• Revised EAW guidance – draft (page 23) 

Public comment on agenda item 4 
The Board welcomes public comment on the resolution. 
Procedure and guidelines for giving public comment: 
• If you wish to speak, please indicate in the WebEx chat that you would like to make public comment.
Commenters are taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Your remarks will be limited to two (2) minutes to ensure there is equal opportunity for the public to
comment. When necessary, due to the number of people who want to address the Board, the Chair
may limit commenters’ time for remarks.
• When the Chair calls on you to speak:

oIntroduce yourself before beginning your comment.

oPlease keep your remarks to those facts which are relevant and specific, as determined by the Chair, to the agenda item at hand.

oPlease be respectful of Board members, staff, and other meeting participants. Avoid questioning motives. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

• Please note that the Chair will use their discretion for directing public comment to ensure the Board’s ability to effectively conduct business.
• You may also submit a written comment. Written comments will be reviewed after the meeting and included in the next Board meeting packet.

The latest perspective from our friends at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy:

Conversations we’ve had in the past week strongly suggest that the EQB is likely to approve a pilot project, rather than implement the changes broadscale right away. Although MCEA would still prefer immediate broadscale adoption, after gaining more information about the pilot, we think it is still a positive step.  The pilot proposal includes a revised climate analysis that is more robust than the last proposal and is consistent with the analysis MCEA has been pushing for all along. We have also been assured that the pilot is a step in implementation, not a delay tactic, and that environmental advocates will have the ability to be involved as the pilot proceeds. 

We still want to push the EQB not to delay, but we will also add some talking points about the pilot to ensure that if selected, it is completed quickly and is as robust and useful as possible. Ultimately, so long as a short-term pilot is adopted, we will still consider it a win. 

Remember, Minnesota is far from on track for meeting the goals of the 2007 climate legislation mandating reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now

Matthew Olzmann

Most likely, you think we hated the elephant,
the golden toad, the thylacine and all variations
of whale harpooned or hacked into extinction.

It must seem like we sought to leave you nothing
but benzene, mercury, the stomachs
of seagulls rippled with jet fuel and plastic. 

You probably doubt that we were capable of joy,
but I assure you we were.

We still had the night sky back then,
and like our ancestors, we admired
its illuminated doodles
of scorpion outlines and upside-down ladles.

Absolutely, there were some forests left!
Absolutely, we still had some lakes!

I’m saying, it wasn’t all lead paint and sulfur dioxide.
There were bees back then, and they pollinated
a euphoria of flowers so we might
contemplate the great mysteries and finally ask,
“Hey guys, what’s transcendence?”   

And then all the bees were dead.