Let's clear the water

Here in Minnesota, an "astroturf" (so-called environmental) group is desiring to load down our state Constitution with a measure to devote a .375% of our aggregate sales to water pollution, the arts, and so on. The Taxpayers' League gives us 10 great reasons not to vote for it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't include the biggest reason not to vote for it; the state really doesn't have authority over the biggest water polluters, and hence they can't do much to clean up our water. This is a classic case of throwing money at a problem when the actual causes are well known.

That is, the main pollution sources are known industrial sources, leaky septic systems, and farm runoff. The EPA and the USDA pretty much take ownership of farm runoff and industrial sources, and the state....simply needs to revise codes and its own regular enforcement of septic system problems to solve the issues of leaky septic systems.

Again, classic case of money being thrown at an issue without a plan. Now if you really wanted to clean the water, you could actually do it for free. How?

Repeal the state ethanol mandate for fuels, thereby reducing the demand for corn, thus reducing runoff. And actually, it wouldn't be just free--it would save state taxpayers millions in gas taxes and maintenance on their cars.