Thread by @AileeJohns

When I said the fight wasn’t over after the election this is what I meant. SD legislative session begins tmrw and within the first 5 days of the session Noem will issue an executive order merging the Department of environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Ag

The proposed department will be called South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR). 90 days after the announcement the merger will take place, unless one chamber passes a resolution with a majority vote, then the executive order will die.

If the merger is allowed South Dakota would be the only state without a separate department focused on environmental issues. 🌍

The DENR is already wildly underfunded and since we haven’t seen a budget proposal for the new DANR we don’t know what funding will look like. In other states where departments have merged they did so under the premise of saving money.

South Dakota had a budget surplus last year and Noem’s new budget proposal wants to set aside even more money for a “rainy day fund.” This money could be used now on things we actually need.

In a letter to legislators, Zach Hunke President SD Wildlife Federation said, “It is easy to see that agriculture contributes significantly to the pollution of South Dakota’s lakes and streams..

..and what little enforcement action that has occurred regarding pollution violations has come through DENR’s enforcement division. About the only time DENR has taken enforcement action is when a written complaint is filed, as required by South Dakota law.”

argusleader.com/story/news/201…

I understand this article is 3 years old but the problem hasn’t gone away, there is still a backlog of permits, people are still dumping with expired permits and the funding cuts that this merger will create won’t solve this problem at all.

The DENR has itself cited lack of staffing as the source of this issue, with the two departments combined there will be even less time to focus on environmental operations.

Noem’s big argument in this whole merger is that the two perform similar duties and there should be “less bureaucracy, more collaboration and better outcomes” The areas where the two departments do overlap are when the DENR acts in a regulatory nature.

DENR is essentially the enforcement agency when it comes to agricultural operations complying with state and local laws through permit approvals and enforcement. How can there be checks and balances between AG and environment if the departments are merged?

I understand that AG is what we as South Dakotans are all about, but if we don’t have clean air, water and soil we can’t farm. We need to protect these things at all costs, and a merger would be deadly to this land we depend on.

I know this was long, thank you for making it this far. If you have you're probably wondering, "what can I do?" We need flood our elected officials emails and voice mails and let them know that we need to protect our environment and that this merger simply can not take place.