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Environmental groups call for hearings over MPCA issues • Minnesota Reformer [1]

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Date: 2024-06 

A coalition of environmental groups is calling for legislative hearings over the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s failure to detect and curb pollution in several instances in recent years.

In a press release, the groups accused the agency — as well as the state departments of Health, Agriculture and Natural Resources — of “polluter capture,” meaning the agencies’ decisionmaking has been “captured” by corporate influence.

“We ask legislators to fulfill their constitutional role to ensure the agencies live up to their responsibilities and secure clean water and air for all,” said Steve Morse, a former state senator and the executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership.

Among the groups: Climate Generation, Clean Up the River Environment, Friends of the Boundary Waters, Pollinator Friendly Alliance, Sierra Club North Star Chapter.

The push by environmentalists reveals some Minnesota progressives’ discontent with the administration of second-term DFL Gov. Tim Walz, who has long sought to balance jobs and economic growth with environmental concerns.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Walz said the governor’s office is proud of Minnesota’s agencies: “The state has a strong record of holding polluters accountable and working with the community and the Legislature to ensure health and our natural resources are protected.”

The green coalition pointed to a dozen instances where state regulators delayed or did not take action against a polluting company or industry, or made permitting and regulatory decisions that were favorable to companies.

The EPA found during a surprise inspection that the Smith Foundry in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis was emitting more particulate matter than allowed by federal regulations. After the EPA found the violations, the Star Tribune reported that MPCA officials appeared to contradict the EPA’s findings, saying the state agency did not have evidence that the foundry was violating state or federal rules.

The EPA settled with the Smith Foundry last week, and the foundry will close its furnace within a year.

“It took a surprise inspection from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bring to light something we have known for years. We don’t understand why the MPCA has sided with a polluter for so long,” said Joe Vital, organizer with the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, in a press release.

Environmentalists also cite nitrate pollution in drinking water in southeastern Minnesota, largely attributable to farm runoff; the EPA warned state leaders in November that they were not doing enough to curb the problem.

Federal officials have also withheld grant money from the DNR for logging violations, alleging state officials failed to ensure that timber harvesting on public land was done with wildlife habitat in mind, not private interests.

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/environmental-groups-call-for-hearings-over-mpca-issues/

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