Minnesota Session Laws - 1983, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1983 

                       RESOLUTION 5--H.F.No. 1059
 A resolution memorializing the President and Congress 
of the United States to take immediate steps to curb 
the sources of acid rain. 
    WHEREAS, acid rain is becoming our number one environmental 
problem across the United States and Canada with a potential of 
destroying agricultural crops, forestry, aquatic life, and 
causing damage to structural buildings; and 
     WHEREAS, the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants 
can cause acid rain far from emission source and is a growing 
interstate and international problem; and 
     WHEREAS, current provisions of the Clean Air Act are not 
adequate to address the problems of acid rain, and present and 
future generations will be more adversely affected by delayed 
action; and 
     WHEREAS, acid rain contributes to the increasing levels of 
heavy metal concentrations in public reservoirs and waterways 
which can pose a threat to human health; and 
     WHEREAS, acid rain has destroyed aquatic life in lakes, 
retarded certain forest and agricultural crop growth, and 
corroded metals and public buildings and statues; and 
     WHEREAS, in the Voyageurs National Park and Boundary Waters 
Canoe Area Wilderness, recent tests show high acidity in the 
lakes which scientists fear will cause serious damage to their 
whole ecosystems if the conditions remain unchecked; and 
     WHEREAS, the problem of acid rain is a serious threat to 
the tourism component of Minnesota's economy and the friendly 
relations with our neighbors in Canada; and 
    WHEREAS, Canada's Minister of the Environment identifies 
acid rain as "the single greatest irritant to the United 
States-Canadian relationship"; and 
     WHEREAS, Canada and the United States signed a 1980 
Memorandum of Intent to combat transboundary air pollution; and 
     WHEREAS, Canada has already achieved cuts of 25 percent in 
sulfur emissions and a promise of 50 percent cuts by 1990 if the 
United States agrees to do the same; and 
     WHEREAS, the state of Minnesota has enacted a 1982 law 
designed to curb the sources of acid deposition within our 
state; and 
     WHEREAS, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has 
identified that significant areas of Minnesota may be damaged by 
the effects of acid precipitation; NOW, THEREFORE, 
     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
that the President and Congress should take immediate action in 
this session of Congress to reduce the sources of acid rain by 
amendment to the Clean Air Act, or by separate legislation, and 
by providing adequate funding to the Environmental Protection 
Agency for monitoring and enforcement. 
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
State of Minnesota is instructed to transmit certified copies of 
this resolution to the President of the United States, the 
President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker 
and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United 
States, to the Minnesota Senators and Representatives in 
Congress, to the Premiers of Manitoba and Ontario and to the 
Ambassador of Canada to the United States. 
    Approved June 1, 1983