ST. PAUL, Minn. - Several conservation groups are calling on the federal government to require the state to reduce haze over Minnesota's national parks and wilderness areas. Chuck Laszewski with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy says they've petitioned the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to include some tough clean-up measures in a draft plan now being drawn up by the state Pollution Control Agency.
He says one target is emissions from what he cites as one of the area's worst pollution offenders, the state's largest generating plant, run by Xcel Energy in Sherburne County.
"The air over some of our most pristine areas, particularly the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Voyageurs National Park, suffers from haze many days of the year. It shouldn't. When people go to those places, they should have crystal-clear skies to look at."
He also includes the Isle Royale National Parks as a haze victim. The groups want the Pollution Agency plan being drafted to reduce the emissions and haze and improve the region's air quality.
The EPA says the Xcel coal plant in Sherburne County is considered the biggest polluter of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide in the state. Xcel notes that, over the years, it has implemented whatever controls were necessary to meet regulations, and says it will continue to comply with any reasonable guidelines.
Laszewski says the coastal scenery in Isle Royale and other national parks should not have to be viewed through a haze. And he says the sources are well-known.
"It's the particulates, basically, that come out of coal-fired power plants and out of taconite processing plants. In particular, we're asking that they use the best available technology to cut those types of pollutants."
He says the petition asks the federal government to order the state to act more thoroughly than the state plan now being considered. The advocates want tougher rules, and they say getting the feds involved will help bring pressure.
Other groups in the federal petition for stronger haze reductions are the National Parks Conservation Association, Voyageurs National Park Association and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has opted not to hear a lawsuit brought by the State of Utah, which alleged the federal government's ownership of large parts of the state is unconstitutional.
The decision marks a win for conservation advocates.
Olivia Juarez, public land program director for the nonprofit GreenLatinos, said Utahns now will not have their tax dollars used to fund what they call the state's "ill-founded lawsuit and disinformation campaign." Utah had made the effort to seize public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Juarez acknowledged with a Republican-dominated Congress, similar efforts may return.
"We are better set up to fight against some of the biggest challenges that the Trump administration is going to pose to the American public," Juarez contended. "Two of them namely being the climate and biodiversity crisis and also a cultural crisis about belonging."
Juarez pointed out public lands represent the origins of American and pre-American history. The case marks the latest setback for states looking to gain control of public lands, some of which hold valuable oil and gas, timber and other resources. Utah state leaders have said they have not ruled out taking their suit to a lower court.
The nomination hearing for Donald Trump's pick for Interior Secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, is scheduled for this Thursday. The new administration will inherit a number of challenges, including disputes over conservation leases on Bureau of Land Management lands.
Juarez argued the multiple-use doctrine for public lands should be upheld.
"That rule will be under attack by the incoming Congress and presidential administration," Juarez noted. "It'll be important to reaffirm to the next secretary that conservation is a use that is valuable, economically as well as culturally."
Juarez added last weekend, public lands and conservation advocates rallied in Salt Lake City to show their support for protecting public lands across the Beehive State like the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.
"Our goal was to bring people together at a time that it feels good," Juarez stressed. "It's a really hopeful moment for the nation's will to treat public lands as a solution to climate disaster, rather than making them part of the problem."
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The White House announced two new national monuments in California on Tuesday, one just east of Palm Springs and the other near Shasta Lake.
A signing ceremony will take place next week, as the unveiling event was postponed due to high winds.
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., whose district includes parts of the new 624,000 acre Chuckwalla National Monument, said the lands will now be protected from mining, drilling and development.
"This is one of these unique examples where you have both the conservation and tribal leaders, as well as the renewable energy and utility companies all endorsing this enormous monument," Ruiz explained.
The area south of Joshua Tree National Park is crucial habitat for the Chuckwalla lizard, bighorn sheep and the endangered desert tortoise.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said although President-elect Trump rescinded protections for some monument lands during his first administration, he hopes the two new monuments will endure.
"If the President-elect talks to the parties who really span the spectrum of interests, he will learn how this was a really well-thought-out effort to conserve this land but also make it possible to generate energy," Schiff asserted. "It's a win-win."
Thomas Tortez, former chairman of the Torres Martinez Tribe, noted his ancestral lands will now gain protections.
"The next step is to strategically develop a co-stewardship plan, put all those resources together and then, start to protect the land," Tortez added.
The White House also intends to designate the new Sátíttla Highlands National Monument, which covers 224,000 acres near Shasta Lake in northern California and contains the headwaters for California's entire watershed.
Brandy McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe, said they have been fighting development in the area for decades.
"As social, economically suppressed communities, having to fight against people with deep pockets and have all the money in the world to come in and destroy our lands," McDaniels observed. "That's what we've been fighting to protect for a very long time."
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The 640-acre Kelly parcel has been in limbo for decades. It sits within the bounds of Grand Teton National Park but has long been owned by the state of Wyoming.
Now, $100 million and years of work later, the parcel now belongs to the park. The sale, which closed Dec. 27, was a slow process because the parcel was part of state-owned school trust lands which, according to the state Constitution, must benefit Wyoming students.
A 2003 law made it possible for the sale of such lands to count. Monies came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.
Leslie Mattson, president of the foundation, said the deal has huge benefits.
"It's kind of a 'twofer' property," Mattson explained. "Not only are we benefiting future students here in Wyoming but this property is a very, very important wildlife habitat and has migration corridors for a number of species on it."
The parcel nearly went to auction in 2023, she said, when it could have gone to private developers. Its protection also conserves critical wildlife habitat and migration corridors for elk, pronghorn and mule deer, including the longest land migration corridor in the lower 48, according to the National Park Service.
Mattson pointed out donations came from people across 46 states, and more 10,000 Wyomingites wrote letters or attended public meetings to prevent the parcel from being sold to developers.
"There was a period of time we were getting dozens of gifts a day with emails saying, 'the wildlife need to be preserved,'" Mattson recounted. "It was amazing to see just the interest across the country in this project."
The parcel was the final state-owned school trust inholding in the park, following the purchase of Antelope Flats for $46 million in 2016.
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