Judge Neilson's ALJ Report on the DNR Consolidated Conservation Drainage Rules has been issued. The ALJ Report goes to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for rule adoption.
General Information
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' proposed rules relating to drainage projects impacting state-owned lands in Consolidated Conservation (“Con-Con”) areas (Minnesota Rules, Chapter 6115) have been assigned to Judge Neilson. Judge Neilson will issue a report with respect to the proposed rules in late August. This website is intended to provide useful and timely information in connection with the rulemaking proceeding.
As part of the rulemaking process, hearings were held on June 26, 27, and 28, 2007, in Aitkin, Bemidji, Grygla, and Warroad. During those hearings, a twenty-calendar-day period was set for the receipt of written comments regarding the proposed rules. Thus, the initial deadline for the submission of written comments in that rulemaking proceeding is 4:30 p.m. on July 18, 2007 .
After the period for submission of written comments ends, state law provides the agency and all interested persons an additional period of five working days for filing a written response to any comments which were submitted. Additional or new evidence may not be submitted during this five-day reply period. The five-day reply period will expire at 4:30 p.m. on July 25, 2007 .
Interested members of the public can e-mail, mail, fax, or deliver public comments to Judge Neilson concerning the proposed rules. Her address is as follows:
Barbara L. Neilson
Administrative Law Judge
100 Washington Ave. S., Suite 1700
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401-2138
Barbara.Neilson@state.mn.us
Fax: 612-349-2665
For copies of the proposed rules, the Statement of Need and Reasonableness submitted by the Department of Natural Resources, and other information relating to the proposed rules, visit the DNR website for the Consolidated Conservation Rule.
Agency Information
The Department's Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR) is now available from this website at Con-Con Sonar. This document is in PDF format and approximately 8 megabytes in size.
Public Exhibits
Scanned versions of some of the exhibits in this matter are provided through the links below. Procedural documents have not been scanned.
Public Comments
Comments received outside of the public hearings are combined into batched documents for public review [and are posted below]. The public comment period ends on 4:30 p.m. on July 18, 2007. Replies to these comments are due by 4:30 p.m. on July 25, 2007. These are "received by" deadlines, and commentators are urged to consider that when sending their comments and replies.
Agency Comments
The Department's comments in response to information received in the public hearing and the comment period are set out below.
Last Updated - June 23, 2008