FMR Updates

Conservation Benefit Variety Show for FMR!

event_new

July 21, 2017

FMR Advisor Deb Swackhamer stands strong before Trump's EPA

article

July 17, 2017

When the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief of staff pressured Deborah Swackhamer, the top scientist on the agency’s scientific review board, to alter her congressional testimony to play down President Trump's dismissal of expert advisers, Swackhamer stood strong.

We didn't think it was possible, but we are more proud than ever to have Ms. Swackhamer on FMR's Council of Advisors. Learn more from the New York Times, MPR, MSNBC and Science magazine.

by Whitney Clark

article

June 15, 2017

Plans for this 135-acre redevelopment go to the planning commission Friday, June 30. While we're in favor of the overall vision for the site — which calls for a higher-density, transit-friendly and mixed-use neighborhood with an emphasis on sustainability — FMR is pushing the city to add more open space and working with city staff to address possible impacts on scenic river gorge views.

The massive Ford site along the Mississippi River in St. Paul. Photo used with the permission of the Metropolitan Design Center. ©Regents of the University of Minnesota

The river belongs to all of us. FMR's 2016 annual report.

article

June 8, 2017

Friends of the Mississippi River annual report

Environment bill becomes law: What’s in & what’s out?

by Trevor Russell

update

June 2, 2017

The Minnesota Legislature's original environment bill was one of the most sweeping anti-environmental bills to advance at the Capitol in many years. Luckily, it was vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton on May 12. So what made it into the final bill that the governor signed on May 30? Some rollbacks, no water quality progress, but not the worst provisions were removed during final negotiations with the Dayton administration.

Sigh... Environment bill signed. Legacy funds shifted.

by Trevor Russell

update

June 1, 2017

We're pretty sure that when Minnesotans passed the Legacy Amendment, this isn't what they — what we — had in mind. Just signed by Gov. Mark Dayton, the environment bill shifts voter-mandated conservation funds to administrative costs. Thank you to all the River Guardians who tried to prevent this, we look forward to inviting you to happy hour soon to recap the session.

Where the Legislature stands on water & the environment in its final week

by Trevor Russell

update

May 16, 2017

This 2017 Legislature has featured a series of sweeping assaults on our environment, including widespread rollbacks to bedrock environmental finance and policy positions that threaten to undermine water quality and river health throughout the state. Here's where things stand.