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MPCA head resigns ahead of Senate vote

Commissioner Laura Bishop had pushed for Clean Car Rules that angered Republicans

David Colburn
Posted 7/7/21

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Clean Car Rules may have survived a threatened budget freeze from Senate Republicans, but GOP leaders made it clear that the …

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MPCA head resigns ahead of Senate vote

Commissioner Laura Bishop had pushed for Clean Car Rules that angered Republicans

Posted

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Clean Car Rules may have survived a threatened budget freeze from Senate Republicans, but GOP leaders made it clear that the agency’s commissioner, Laura Bishop, won’t be around to see them implemented.
Bishop is out, resigning on Tuesday after Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka informed Gov. Tim Walz that her appointment to the position, made in January 2019, would not be confirmed, even though the confirmation hearing itself had not yet taken place.
The special legislative session called to finalize the state’s budget for the next biennium was expected to end last Friday. However, Senate Republicans voted to remain in session and scheduled confirmation hearings for numerous Walz appointees, including Bishop. The move drew a quick rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury.
“I believe the Senate majority has abused this process because I believe they should have taken up these commissioners in the months after they were appointed in January of 2019, and they didn’t,” Kent said. “They held onto them for some reason. They used this political leverage last year with two commissioners and now they’re talking about doing it again.”
Kent was referring to the 2020 ousters of Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nancy Leppink and Department of Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley, both denied Senate confirmation during contentious battles with Walz over his continuing executive powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early May, Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, threatened to withhold funding for the Department of Natural Resources, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, and numerous other state-funded entities unless the proposed clean car emissions standards were withdrawn immediately. Ingebrigtsen and others contended that the Legislature was wrongfully bypassed in the process, but an administrative judge ruled in May that the MPCA had the legal authority to develop and implement the rules without involving lawmakers. Republicans dropped their opposition to the rules in late June in order to complete the state budget.
Gov. Tim Walz issued a press release decrying the Republicans’ move and praising Bishop’s decision to resign.
“I am extremely disappointed in the Republicans in the Senate who are choosing to use taxpayer dollars to play partisan games and try to politicize an agency charged with protecting Minnesotans from pollution because they refuse to acknowledge the science of climate change,” Walz said. “Commissioner Bishop’s qualifications are clear, and her principles are unwavering. I am proud of her decision to stand firm in her beliefs that climate change is real and to not bend her policies and values in order to get through this disingenuous confirmation process. For all Minnesotans who believe in science, who believe in climate change, this is a loss.”
Sen. Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, reacted to Bishop’s resignation favorably in a Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus post on Facebook.
“The Commissioner behind Governor Walz’s California Car Mandates has resigned rather than face a Senate confirmation vote,” Eichorn said. “Every commissioner, no matter political affiliation, should always strive to represent all Minnesotans and work with their representatives. I look forward to hopefully having a productive ongoing dialogue with the next commissioner about the needs of northern Minnesotans.”
This week’s Senate performance reviews and confirmation hearings apparently weren’t an automatic ticket out of the Walz administration. Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board Commissioner Mark Phillips and Minnesota Office of School Trust Lands Director Aaron Vande Linde were both confirmed Monday on voice votes.
Others who were to be considered by the Senate on Wednesday included DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho.