8/29/06
The Minnesota Pipeline Company wants to run a crude oil pipeline across Minnesota to bring oil from Canada to the Koch refinery in Rosemont. The proposed pipeline route would cross 149 miles of farmland and five organic farms, including Gardens of Eagan, run by Atina and Martin Diffley. In 2004, Martin and Atina were named the MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year. In 2005 their farm shipped 30 semi-loads of fresh organic produce to the Twin Cities.

The Diffleys told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press that the pipeline would destroy six acres of fields, disturbing topsoil across a wide area, organic topsoil that has taken 15 years of careful management with cover crops and compost to build tilth and fertility. The pipeline could possibly cause Gardens of Eagan to lose its organic certification.

The Diffley’s lost another farm in the late 1980s to urban sprawl, a story told in the documentary Turn Here Sweet Corn, produced by Helen DeMichel and featured by Land Stewardship Project in programs across the region.

You can help the Diffleys and all organic farmers turn away the crude oil pipeline from their farms by taking two actions:

1. Write a letter to the administrative judge telling her that we shouldn’t treat organic soil like dirt. The soil on organic farms is an extremely valuable resource and should not be at risk for chemical contamination or erosion and compaction from pipeline construction.

By U.S. mail: Office of Administrative Hearings
Attn.: Judge Beverly Heydinger
Suite 1700, 100 Washington Square
Minneapolis, MN 55401

By fax: 612-349-2665

By e-mail: Beverly.Heydinger@state.mn.us

(Send a copy of your letter to Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Gene Hugoson at 625 N. Robert St., St. Paul, MN 55155; e-mail: gene.hugoson@state.mn.us; phone: 651-201-6219)

2. Attend one or more public hearings held in counties along the proposed pipeline route. Testify that it is absolutely critical to protect the soil of organic farms and not allow the Koch pipeline or any pipeline to endanger the viability of organic farms, especially when the demand for organic produce is rising every year. SEE THE SCHEDULE BELOW

DATE, COUNTY, CITY, LOCATION
Aug. 29 (1 & 6 pm), Morrison, Little Falls, Falls Ballroom
Aug. 30 (1 & 7 pm), Stearns, Melrose, American Legion
Sept. 5 (4 pm), Dakota, Farmington, High School Commons
Sept. 7 (4 pm), Scott, New Prague, High School Cafeteria
Sept. 8 (4 pm), Rice, Lonsdale, Crusader Civic Center
Sept. 11 (11 am), Wright, Cokato, City Hall Auditorium
Sept. 11 (5 pm), Meeker, Litchfield, Cty Courthouse Rms. A & B
Sept. 13 (4 pm), McLeod, Glencoe, Lincoln Jr. High School Gym
Sept. 14 (11 am), Sibley, Arlington, Community Center
Sept. 14 (5 pm), Carver, Hamburg, Hamburg City Hall

More information is available at www.gardensofeagan.com or by calling 952-469-1855.

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