House GOP legislators, Dayton spar over environmental bill

A new piece of Republican environmental legislation is setting up a major clash with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, whose agency heads voiced opposition in an often heated committee hearing this week.

The bill would fund the state’s major environmental agencies, while also engaging in some sweeping, controversial policy changes that would give the Legislature a stronger hand to curb what Republicans say are overzealous regulators.

But in a sharply worded letter Wednesday, the commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency suggested the bill relied on dishonest budgeting because it would draw down landfill funds and said the regulatory changes would weaken Minnesota’s protection of air, land and water.

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