North Dakota bill would create a new Cabinet position

BISMARCK — A bill under consideration at the state Legislature would create a new position in the North Dakota governor's Cabinet.

Senate Bill 2327 would create a Department of Environmental Quality, transferring those duties from the state Department of Health.

"This places an emphasis on the environment separate from the medical world of public health issues," said Sen. Jessica Unruh, R-Beulah, the bill's primary sponsor. It would send a message to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that North Dakota is "serious about our state primacy and this is our jurisdiction," she added in a hearing Friday, Feb. 10.

The new department would continue to implement the same environmental protection programs as the existing Environmental Health Section in the Health Department, section Chief Dave Glatt said.

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