The legislature recognizes that Minnesota's existing environmental laws play a critical role in protecting the environment. However, the legislature finds that environmental protection could be further enhanced by authorizing innovative advances in environmental regulatory methods. It is the policy of the legislature that Minnesota should develop environmental regulatory methods that:

(1) encourage facility owners and operators to assess the pollution they emit or cause, directly and indirectly, to the air, water, and land;

(2) encourage facility owners and operators to innovate, set measurable and verifiable goals, and implement the most effective pollution prevention, source reduction, or other pollution reduction strategies for their particular facilities, while complying with verifiable and enforceable pollution limits;

(3) encourage superior environmental performance and continuous improvement toward sustainable levels of resource usage and minimization of pollution discharges;

(4) reward facility owners and operators that reduce pollution to levels below what is required by applicable law;

(5) consolidate into one permit environmental requirements that are currently included in different permits, sometimes issued by different state or local agencies;

(6) reduce the time and money spent by agencies and facility owners and operators on paperwork and other administrative tasks that do not benefit the environment;

(7) increase public participation and encourage stakeholder consensus in the development of innovative environmental regulatory methods and in monitoring the environmental performance of projects under this chapter;

(8) encourage groups of facilities and communities to work together to reduce pollution to levels below what is required by applicable law;

(9) provide reasonable technical assistance to facilitate meaningful stakeholder participation; and

(10) increase levels of trust and communication among agencies, regulated parties, and the public.

History: 1996 c 437 s 1