Midwest river towns seek answers after 3M factory taints water with PFAS
Local officials want to reassure residents about their drinking water, even amid questions about health risks and who will pay to clean up the contamination.
Environment
Technology, logistics challenge food-scrap composting efforts in Wisconsin
The city and University of Wisconsin are not alone in their struggles to maintain large-scale food waste composting, but parts of Minnesota are ahead on the practice.
Wish you were riding Southwest light rail by now? Blame tunnel vision
The cursed part of the now-$2.74 billion extension of the current Green Line is a tunnel that makes up just 2,870 feet of the 14.5 mile route from Target Field to Eden Prairie.
Why Minnesota Democrats aren’t embracing California’s ban on new gas cars
States like Washington and Massachusetts plan to join California in largely banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
Wait? There’s a ‘real issue’ in the state auditor’s race?
It’s called ESG – Environment, Social and Governance – a move to consider issues such as climate change, social justice and equity as state and local governments decide where to invest funds.
How government is learning to cooperate with Minnesota’s tribal nations
Tribal forest managers find value in every forest dweller, in contrast to standard modern forestry.
Environmental justice advocates continue fight against East Phillips public works hub
While the city of Minneapolis moves forward with plans for a public works facility at the Roof Depot site in the East Phillips neighborhood, advocates who have opposed the plan say they are still fighting.
Projects to expand the power grid will make room for more renewable energy and less coal
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) approval of $10.3 billion for 18 high-voltage transmission lines in the upper Midwest could pave the way for more than 50 gigawatts in renewable energy to be added to the grid and help decarbonize the energy sector.
Tens of thousands lobbied for and against mining moratorium in Superior National Forest
The Bureau said it received 198,111 public comments. Most of these were form letters, opposed or supportive of mining. Only 2,221 were “original, unique responses,” the Bureau said.
What a Supreme Court EPA ruling means for Minnesota and the fight against climate change
The ruling affirms the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but it takes away the federal agency’s most powerful and cost-effective tool to regulate the nation’s largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas pollution.
The Northern Metals shredder is gone, but environmental dangers remain
While Northern Metals was operating, the zip code of that area, 55411, had the highest rate of asthma hospitalizations in the state, according to the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.
Energy deal with bipartisan support is a no go with Minnesota Legislature unable to pass a budget
In total, the deal struck over the energy budget would have spent about $46.5 million from the state’s general fund over the next three years and another $36 million from the Renewable Development Account
As the state’s climate gets warmer and wetter, what to expect from wildfire season in Minnesota
Though most often caused by people, wildfires are driven by hard-to-predict factors that connect ecology, meteorology, geography and climate change.
Appreciating the spectacular, hot-headed skunk cabbage
Minnesota is at the northwestern edge of skunk cabbage range, and it grows only in moist swampy lowlands, the kind of places where the coldest and densest air of the night settles out and intensifies its chill.
Shady practices: New mapping tool shows inequity of tree coverage in the metro
While ideal canopy cover is around 45 percent, according to the Metropolitan Council, different parts of the Twin Cities fall far above or below that, with neighborhoods that are whiter and wealthier tending to have more trees.
Minneapolis program aims to grow and diversify clean energy workforce
The city’s Green Career Exploratory Program, launched in the early days of the pandemic, is open to all but emphasizes recruitment of people of color through its partnerships with various community institutions.
Even after years of improving air quality, pollution remains a problem in some Minnesota communities
The state has found that neighborhoods with mostly residents of color had five times the rate of asthma emergency room visits as majority white areas.
After rough start, electric buses are back on the road in Minneapolis-St. Paul
Metro Transit idled its first batch of electric buses due to mechanical and charging problems. They’re now back in service, along with a plan to convert almost 12% of its fleet to electric models over the next five years.
How often planes hit birds (and other animals) in Minnesota
Talk about unfriendly skies.
When ice out happens on Minnesota lakes — and what that means, anyway
The Minnesota DNR has records on ice out going back to the 1800s for some lakes.
