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RESOLUTION – Adopted by the Board of Directors January 19, 2005:

Audit Environmental Management by the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Whereas the Legislature in 1996 endorsed and accepted that a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) would be adopted for Expansion of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) complying with Federal, State, and local environmental regulations;

Whereas pollution from MSP, harmful to the environment, to air and water quality, to wildlife habitat and biological diversity, or to public health and safety, was previously regulated by a variety of means and agencies, including local government units with jurisdiction based on political, watershed, or land-owner boundaries;

Whereas regulatory systems in place 1996 to 1998, when the EIS was developed and the Record of Decision (ROD) issued, were incorporated in the ROD including pending actions by MAC or tenant organizations to comply with local regulations, such as zoning, permit applications and approvals, plans, and schedules;

Whereas MAC failed to apply for local permits and otherwise violated its own representations in the Final EIS for MSP Expansion;

Whereas MAC later requested and received “responsible (local) government unit” designation and other State-granted authorities replacing local agencies, watershed districts, and municipalities which were not anticipated in legislation adopted earlier, such as Chapter 664, MS 1988, or the FEIS;

Whereas no public information and codified rules governing environmental permits, budgets, projects, and enforcement have been published, to our knowledge, but applied, if at all, only in contracts or agreements with corporations doing business at MSP and regulated by MAC;

Whereas, several times projects, activities, and policies of MAC led to harmful or dangerous emissions and to unresolved questions about MAC’s interpretations of State (and Federal) law; and,

Whereas MAC on December 20, 2005 improperly approved its Assessment of Environmental Effects of its Long-term Capital Improvements Plan and failed to advise the Environmental Quality Board, the Legislature, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, or the general public of serious failures of, or lack of oversight by, the Commission to control pollution from construction accidents, operational failures, or tenant misadventure, officially finding instead that the leaking of over 40,000 gallons of aviation fuels and a months-long clean-up program – eventually the subject of fines and other enforcement actions by the MPCA when discovered – was a “trivial environmental effect.”

Now it is resolved that the Minnesota Legislature, through the Legislative Audit Commission and the Office of the Legislative Auditor, should conduct a thorough study and audit of applicable laws and the duties of the MAC as chartered and as a responsible governmental unit regarding harmful environmental impacts and the planning and regulation of construction, demolition, clean-up, stormwater management, ground water appropriation, noise abatement and related activities regulated by law.

This is a true copy of the Resolution printed January 19, 2005.
Attested: James R. Spensley, Board Chair