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Committee considers targeted access to Mount Simon aquifer for communities with no other supply
Summary
Representative Schultz's amendment to allow narrow domestic use of the Mount Simon aquifer at the aquifer edge drew support from Christmas tree farmers and farmers' groups; DNR explained the change is narrowly tailored to places with no other viable aquifer and prioritizes domestic uses.
Representative Sandra Schultz presented House File 647, with a DE1 amendment she said was written in coordination with the Department of Natural Resources to address unintended consequences of a 2021 expansion of protections for the Mount Simon aquifer.
Schultz said the change is narrowly targeted to communities on the edge of the aquifer that have no other viable water source and would allow the DNR to authorize limited use through the agency’s existing permitting process. "This bill seeks to address the needs of communities across the state where they don't have access to any other aquifer in their area," Schultz told the committee.
Ben Wilson, president of the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association and owner of a family farm in Isanti County, testified that the 2021 restriction on new wells into the Mount Simon aquifer left some farms without a practical long-term water supply for first-year tree irrigation. Wilson said he and his farm spent thousands of dollars unsuccessfully seeking alternative wells and asked for the bill to restore a narrowly scoped permitting path for essential agricultural and domestic needs.
Stu Lohrey, government relations director for the Minnesota Farmers Union, said the change is narrowly tailored, requires best-available conservation practices, and would be implemented at the DNR commissioner's discretion.
A DNR section manager for ecological and water resources (testifying for the division) described the Mount Simon as a deep, slowly recharging aquifer and said the bill aligns statutory language to existing priority-use definitions so that the highest priority—domestic use—remains protected. The DNR witness said the bill would allow priority uses 1 through 5 in locations where the Mount Simon is the only viable aquifer and would continue to prohibit nonessential (priority 6) uses.
Committee members asked whether the change would enable large industrial uses or water transfers; witnesses noted a recently enacted statutory limit on bulk transfers to 50 miles and said public-water-supply plans and DNR permitting would be used to limit uses to first-priority domestic needs where appropriate. Representative Schultz said she believed no current mining project would fall within the transfer and distance limits discussed.
