Minnesota Environmental Issues Oral History Project Minnesota Historical

Interview with James Harrison Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission Interviewed by Margaret Robertson Minnesota Historical Society Interviewed on December 16, 1986 at the offices of the Minnesota Historical Society MR: Are you a native of Minnesota? JH: Yes, I was born in Minneapolis in 1937 and grew up in Worthington,Project in southwestern Minnesota. We visited the Twin Cities a lot because my grandmother lived in Saint Paul. My mother's family had lived in Saint Paul since 1849. My father had grown up in southeastern Minnesota. His grandfather, John Harrison, was an English sailor who came to Winona County and became one of the first white settlers there. So my family is deeply rooted in Minnesota. History MR: What was your educational background? Oral JH: I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1962, but I had spent a few years at Carleton College in Northfield.Society My degrees were in radio and TV speech and journalism. MR: I know that you were a research assistant to the Minnesota Senate, but did you have a chance to use yourIssues degrees? JH: Well, yes. I was in broadcasting for several years. Actually, before I got my degree, I was in broadcasting for about four or five years, and I did quite a bitHistorical of communicati ons work. While it might not have been in broadcasting industry, I was public relations director for the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce for awhile and things like that. I've always liked speaking and writing about things that I think are important. MR: So how did you end up working for the Senate? Environmental JH: Actually the SenateMinnesota Counsel, H. Blair Klein, was a personal friend, and they were just setting up the office. He thought I would be interested in their work, and I accepted. But because they were just starting up, they had not really established criteria for the positions. So soon after that, they decided that they would hire attorneys to work on the staff, which I was not. So another opportunity came up in 1968, and I took that. I've been there ever since.Minnesota That was the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission. MR: How had your background prepared you for your work on the commission? JH: Well, the Boundary Commission, of course, is an advisory body to the state governments that sponsor it--Minnesota and Wisconsin. Because so much of the work has to do with the political considerations between the two states and among the states and the federal government, they were really interested in my legislative affairs background. They thought that because I had worked for the Senate, with city government through the Chamber of Commerce, and because I had a background in public affairs, that I could probably represent a 16 conciliatory role among the various political interests that were affecting the river system. MR: There does not seem to be much legislative precedent for the Boundary Area Commission. How did it come about? JH: Well, the stimulus for it was the Northern States Power Company decision to build their big steam generating plants south of Stillwater on the Saint Croix River--the Island King plant. It was Projectthe first non-centralized facility in their system, I believe, even before the Monticello facility. So they were establishing a precedent insofar as they were beginning to spread out their baseload generating system to support the fast growing Twin Cities and western Wisconsin areas. They had owned the land there for many, many years. It was no big deal for the company, I guess. It was natural. Where their Historypowerline crossed a major river was a good site for a plant, because they needed the water for the steam. And indeed, in that case, they needed the river for shipping the coal. Oral So it was a very logical engineering decision, but politically and socially it was a very, very difficult thing forSociety the politicians to handle. The Saint Croix Valley, which of course, had been a tremendously active industrial center for the lumber industry until about 1914, had more or less becomeIssues a recreational area or a scenic area by default. All of the rest of the development that was river-oriented centered around Fort Snelling or Saint Anthony Falls or around the barge and towing industry in Saint Paul. The Saint Croix was left over. People had taken for Historicalgranted that its highest and best use was for those nonindustrial and recreational purposes. So when this decision came along, it was really a jolt. MR: So it caught government flat-footed--they realized that they did not have the mechanism to deal with this situation. JH: That's right.Environmental At the time, Governor Warren Knowles was in office in Wisconsin. He happenedMinnesota to be from New Richmond, which was in Saint Croix County--right on the border. He knew the area well. He knew the issue well. Along with Governor Rolvaag in Minnesota, he saw the wisdom of trying to create a stronger liaison or partnership arrangement between the two states. MR: Then there are still commissioners who are appointed from each state,Minnesota along with your position as executive director? Is that correct? JH: Yes. Actually, there are ten commissioners--five from each state and appointed by their respective governors. The requirement is that they be a resident of the state they represent. They don't have to represent any constituent interest or any particular discipline. So it's really a government of the people, except it is an advisory position. MR: Then on what basis are the legislative representatives appointed? 17 JH: Well, they're appointed by the House and the Senate in the case of Minnesota, according to whatever criteria they tend to think is important. Very often, I think the majority of the legislators who are appointed as advisors to the commission are from border districts, which stands to reason. But there are also others who come from the Twin Cities proper or from other parts of the state. Former Senator Jim Nichols, now Agriculture Commissioner, is from way out on the western border, and he was one of our advisors at one time. So it varies.Project As their polical sensibility may apply to a given situation, they either are interested or not according to how they see the situation. MR: Is it a two-way street? Do they use your expertise, while you use them to push specific legislation? History JH: That's the way it's worked out. I think especially for those who have border area districts, they see the commission as a worthy advisor for their own district needs. And indeed, we do as a commission depend on the legislators for advice and leadershipOral--particularly in recent years, when Minnesota and Wisconsin were strong adversaries on the impact of sewage discharges from the Twin Cities.Society MR: The Pig's Eye plant problem? Issues JH: Well, it had been the Pig's Eye Treatment Plant in the past. However, as the plant's operation improved, the concern developed over a combined sewer overflow problem from the intermittent overloading of the system through rain and snow melt.Historical Wisconsin thought it would be politically advantageous for both states to sue Minnesota over this and join the issue judicially. This strategy did not result in any rulings because it was dismissed by the Appeals Court. One of the reasons the Appeals Court dismissed it was because the Boundary Area Commission had persuaded its legislative advisors to join with the commissionEnvironmental in going directly to the governor. Governor Perpich was very receptive,Minnesota and his administration then responded by saying, "We're going to take care of this." He and Governor Earl of Wisconsin, who were good friends, met on the river through our auspices, worked out an agreement, and that's what's now being executed. It was a coordinated inter-state agreement, but it was an informal agreement. There was nothing binding--it was a goodwill agreement. And that's what the commission, I think, ends up doing best--Minnesotaworking out goodwill agreements between the two states where they're needed. MR: So as part of your function, you conciliate and you advise. But you do some research too, do you not? JH: Yes, especially on the Saint Croix River. As a result of the power plant dispute and the desire to preserve the Saint Croix, which was stimulated by the dispute, the river became the original proving ground for the commission's work. The commission focused its program attention primarily on the Saint Croix River for the first six or eight 18 years of its life. In so doing, it really became a nerve center for a lot of the discussion, a lot of the planning, a lot of the inter-governmental deliberations over how best to achieve the goal of protecting this valley for future generations. It was a very fortunate set of circumstances, in terms of timing, that the federal Wild and Scenic River act was just being implemented at the time. MR: What was the date that the bill was finally passed? Project JH: Well, the original act that set up the national system was signed by President Johnson on October 2nd of 1968. That established the eight river system, including the Upper Saint Croix about 200 miles from Taylors Falls upstream. Then the Lower Saint Croix--the fifty-two miles from Taylors Falls to the Mississippi--was one of the study rivers in that setup. Those studies, publicHistory meetings, and investigative work which followed was coordinated through our office.

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