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Representative John Poston: Anti Environment or Anti Regulation?

I get emails from the environmental organization Conservation Minnesota that point out the dismal voting record that Sen. Paul Gazelka and Representative John Poston have on environmental issues.

 Sometimes I drop the two men a note pointing out their wrong-headed votes. Even though I almost never agree with John Poston I do appreciate his willingness to respond to me.

 A Conservation Minnesota email in June read as follows:

 "Did you know that lead is toxic to wildlife and is unsafe at every level in humans? A recent survey of Minnesotans showed that 76 percent supported phasing out the use of lead in ammunition to protect wildlife and people. Yet, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimates that 178 tons of lead were deposited on state lands during the 2017 small game hunting season.

In 2016, the Minnesota Legislature enacted a law forbidding the DNR from taking action to reduce lead ammunition until July 2019. During the 2018 legislative session, an amendment was offered in the House of Representatives to repeal the statute and allow the DNR to address the problem. The amendment did not pass.


Your state representative John Poston voted to prohibit the DNR from taking action to reduce the use of lead ammunition on state lands."

I emailed Rep. Poston and told him I was disappointed with his vote:

"Dear Representative Poston,

I was disappointed to hear that this session you voted against an amendment that would have allowed the DNR to take action to reduce the use of lead ammunition on state lands, especially because there are numerous non-toxic ammunition alternatives for hunters that are just as effective and similarly priced."
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Poston responded:

"Hi Tim

The vote was against giving the DNR rulemaking authority! Not about lead shot specifically! I will always vote for good environmental policies / bills!!!

Have a great Friday / Weekend!!!

John"
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I wrote back:

Thanks John.

Why not give the DNR rule making authority? Don’t we want to get the lead out, so to speak? What do you propose we do about it?

Tim
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. . . and Poston responded:

"Good Morning Tim

I am sorry that I have not gotten back to you sooner! Rule making at the DNR and other state agencies looks an awful lot like law making, which is the job of the legislative branch of government. The legislature must go through the full legislative process to put something in to law, witch means involving all the stake holders! The agencies do not follow the same process! I did vote for an amendment to ban lead shot while hunting water fowl on state land, the bill ultimately did not pass because it included all ammunition. Some ammunition for certain types of hunting is not yet available lead free.

Have a Great Monday / Week!!!"
---

. . . and I wrote back:


"John.

Thanks for your thoughtful  response.

I think what you’re articulating is a basic Republican principle. I respect that and sort of agree with it. It would be interesting to discuss it more. Of course agencies have always made rules but the question is what are the limits to that. I have disagreed with the Republican efforts to weaken PUC rule making but sometimes I think the DNR is too powerful.

Regards,

Tim'

. . . and that was the end of the conversation.

The thing is, I don't believe that John Poston will ever support good environmental policies. John, and Republicans in general, us the anti-regulation principle of the party, as a smoke screen to either dismantle existing environmental laws or to refuse to pass new laws to protect the environment.

A week after I got the lead shot email from Conservation Minnesota I received an email from them saying that Rep. Poston voted against allowing the DNR to regulate bee-killing insecticides on DNR Wildlife Management Areas.

I've emailed Poston about this and I'm waiting for his response. I expect he'll say that he's  in principle opposed to the DNR regulating insecticides on DNR  land. But his principled inaction is killing  bees, wild pollinators, and wild life that ingests lead shot.



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