MPCA chief Laura Bishop resigns ahead of Senate confirmation vote

Nick Halter
·1 min read

Laura Bishop resigned as commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Tuesday, making the move a day before the Republican-controlled Senate scheduled a hearing on her confirmation.

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What they're saying: Gov. Tim Walz said that GOP Senate leaders told him they wouldn't confirm Bishop.

  • "I am extremely disappointed in the Republicans in the Senate who are choosing to use taxpayer dollars to play partisan games and try to politicize an agency charged with protecting Minnesotans from pollution because they refuse to acknowledge the science of climate change," Walz said in a news release.

  • Bishop, a former Best Buy executive, said she resigned so as not to allow the MPCA to be politicized.

  • After her resignation, Senate Republican Leader Paul Gazelka criticized her for signing onto a lawsuit against the taconite industry and for pushing electric vehicle mandates.

What to watch: Bishop might not be the only top official in the Walz administration to be out of a job.

  • Two others could face votes Wednesday — Jennifer Ho as commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and Sarah Strommen, a commissioner of the state's Department of Natural Resources.

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