“I think it shows that when it comes to the issues, there are areas where we can come together,” said Rep. Jamie Long, “and that includes making sure that we have a workforce that is inclusive, that is ready for taking the jobs.”
“You are seeing a lot more of these cover crops,” said Odin farmer Tom Peterson. “Five years ago, you hardly saw any. The challenge, though, for that (farmer) on a corn and soybean rotation is getting a cover crop planted early enough in the fall. There’s not a lot of time.”
The EPA is partially disapproving Minnesota’s most recent Clean Water Act Impaired Waters List because the list doesn’t include any rivers or lakes loaded with sulfate, which kills off wild rice beds over time.
In its first year, a city ordinance requiring energy audits prior to home sales resulted in more than 6,200 reports disclosing the conditions of windows, insulation, and heating systems for prospective buyers and new owners.
The DNR has settled on a 750-mile route that it plans to soon mark with signage and begin promoting as an “adventure trail.”
So far in 2021, the Republicans who control the Minnesota Senate and DFLers who control the House have found little common ground on how the state should react to the burgeoning EV industry.
Among the Walz administration’s efforts, its proposed budget would allow the MPCA to beef up its enforcement of emissions standards – the lack of which, the agency says, often creates inequities.
Though a similar grid failure in Minnesota is highly unlikely, “I wouldn’t want to say it’s impossible,” says Chan.
The plan has the support of several industry groups, notably taconite mining, and some Minnesota cities. Many environmental groups and several tribal governments are lined up against it.
Trees that thrive in environments like Minnesota’s, where temperatures can drop below freezing for an extended period of time, have adaptations that allow them to survive the winter.
So far, there have been a modest number of cases among the thousands of workers on the pipeline, though the full scope of the project’s impact on disease spread isn’t clear.
At the same time, the Duluth-based utility is pushing forward with plans to build a new natural gas plant, which would have to be shut down or converted by 2050 to achieve the carbon-free goal.
The report says Trump-era rules erased Clean Water Act protection for more than half of the wetlands in the United States and for 18 percent of the country’s streams.
The President-elect has named Tom Vilsack to be secretary of agriculture and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Interior Department.
Environmental advocacy groups, health professionals and several tribal governments have asked the Walz administration to halt construction during the pandemic, touching off a debate over the safety of moving ahead with one of the state’s biggest construction projects.
In September, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa started working on the second phase of a 12-step solar project, a 240-kilowatt array atop the reservation’s workforce center in Red Lake.
The group has managed to boost watercraft inspections on some lakes in the Ely area and to begin inspections on other lakes that have never been monitored for invasive species. But the region is vast.
Red Wing’s five-year plan offers less daunting action items and more political accountability, its creators say.
The short answer is: it’s complicated.
123 legislative candidates have signed on to a pledge, circulated by the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, opposing the Walz administration’s plan to follow California’s Clean Cars rules.
