ST. PAUL — Gov. Mark Dayton created a new citizen advisory panel Tuesday to consult with his administration on environmental matters, effectively going around lawmakers who abolished a similar panel two months ago.

Dayton announced the panel during a speech to the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, one of the organizations dismayed that the Democratic governor agreed to dismantle the old board this year as part of a deal on a new state budget.

“We will continue it in spirit as well as in practice until we get a chance to correct it in statute, which I look forward to doing with you in the very near future,” Dayton said.

Dayton denied making the move out of political provocation even as he accused Republicans of eliminating the 47-year-old board as a “trophy” in their pursuit of smaller government.

“I don’t expect regulators to be popular,” Dayton told reporters about the agency, which would advise the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “I just know they’re essential to protect the citizens from some of these excesses.”