AG appoints Keri Heintzeman to Future of Minnesota's Water task force

ST. PAUL — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced state Sen. Keri Heintzeman as one of his appointments to the Advisory Task Force on Future of Minnesota’s Water.

Heintzeman, from Nisswa, was elected April 30 in a special election to replace former-Sen. Justin Eichorn and represent District 6 in the state senate. She is one of two Republicans out of the four lawmakers on the task force.

The task force’s first meeting is 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the state Capitol. The task force will have five more meetings over the next year, all of which will be livestreamed and open to the public.

Ellison formed the task force on March 31 to study and report on the problems affecting the stewardship of the state’s water resources as well as explore and recommend the best practices for addressing these problems.

“Our focus is not regulation, it’s imagination,” Ellison said in a news release. “The goal is not to point fingers or assign blame, but to collect and explore the best thinking around what’s possible for us as stewards of Minnesota’s water.”

The task force includes state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle as well as representatives from state agencies and water quality and conservation advocates and experts. Ellison’s appointees also include members of the public representing agriculture, tribal communities and businesses.