Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 01/18/2017

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Environmental Review Advisory Panel Environmental Quality Board Environmental Review(ER)staff will be creating an ER Advisory Panel to modernize and improve the ER Program. I. Background The Environmental Quality Board (EQB or Board)has a general responsibility to"monitor the effectiveness" and"take appropriate measures to modify and improve"the effectiveness of the ER rules (Minn. Rules 4410.0400, subp. 1). In 2015 Minnesota legislative session, the EQB was directed to streamline environmental review, per Laws of Minnesota 2015, Chapter 4,Article 5, Section 33. To that end, the EQB initiated an ER Mandatory Categories rulemaking in early 2016. The scope of the rulemaking is to gain efficiencies through housekeeping such as aligning rules and statutes; making technical updates and corrections. Regardless, comments received during public meetings and in stakeholder engagement periods have raised much larger policy questions—outside the scope of this rulemaking. Additionally, in an effort to improve effectiveness and efficiency, the ER program initiated several opportunities in 2016 for public input, including: • A results based accountability workshop to develop ER program measures; • Project-specific surveys for responsible governmental units (RGUs)and citizens; and, • Public meetings and stakeholder engagement periods to shape the Mandatory Categories rulemaking. Based on all of the feedback received over the past year, the EQB is convening an ER Advisory Panel (Minn. Stat. 116D.03, subd. 2)charged with modernizing and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the ER program. The scope of the work will be determined by the panel, but they will be focused on any number of the following policy issues that have been raised over the last year: • Human health impacts • Proposed ER exclusions • Climate change considerations • Alternative review • Environmental justice • ER process streamlining II. Environmental Review Advisory Panel • Purpose–The purpose of the ER Advisory Panel (Panel)is to review the ER program, identify areas of concern, and propose changes to modernize the program.