News Release | Environment Minnesota

Join Polar Explorer Ann Bancroft for Earth Day Celebration

We have a sold-out house for Earth Day celebration on Tuesday, April 17th at the Red Stag Supperclub where we will hear from Polar Explorer Ann Bancroft, and Fresh Energy's Executive Director Michael Noble, and we'll be honoring former state legislator and PUC Chair Ellen Anderson, Vice President Walter Mondale and others.

News Release | Environment Minnesota

Obama Administration to Protect Minnesotans’ Health by Setting Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed historic new limits on carbon pollution from new power plants.

Report | Environment Minnesota Research and Policy Center

In the Path of the Storm: Global Warming, Extreme Weather, and the Impacts of Weather-Related Disasters in the United States

Weather disasters kill or injure hundreds of Americans each year and cause billions of dollars in economic damage. The risks posed by some types of weather-related disasters will likely increase in a warming world. Scientists have already detected increases in extreme precipitation events and heat waves in the United States, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently concluded that global warming will likely lead to further changes in weather extremes.

News Release | Environment Minnesota Research and Policy Center

4 of 5 Minnesotans Hit by Recent Weather Disasters; New Report Says Global Warming to Bring More Extreme Weather

As we continue to set record-high temperatures nearly every day this week in Minnesota, a new Environment Minnesota report documents how global warming could lead to certain extreme weather events becoming even more common or more severe in the future. 

News Release | Environment Minnesota

House Transportation Bill Drives Us to Deeper Oil Dependence

This afternoon, Representative John Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, officially introduced a major transportation reauthorization bill. The overall plan for the bill includes proposals to open the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and to open landscapes in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to oil shale extraction. At the same time, it cuts all funding for biking and walking safety and cripples environmental review for transportation projects. On top of this, Speaker of the House John Boehner has said that he would attach approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to this bill if it were not otherwise immediately approved.

News Release | Environment Minnesota

President Obama Expected to Stand Up to Big Oil on Keystone XL Pipeline

President Obama and the State Department today will reject an effort to force administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

News Release | Environment Minnesota

President Obama & EPA Protect Public Health, Announce Landmark Mercury Standard for Power Plants

Today, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever nationwide standard for mercury and air toxics pollution from power plants. A record 907,000 Americans submitted comments on the standard, which is expected to cut toxic mercury pollution from power plants by 91 percent.

Report | Environment Minnesota Research and Policy Center

America's Biggest Mercury Polluters

XCEL Energy’s Sherburne County power plant (Sherco) in Becker emits the most mercury pollution of any power plant in Minnesota and the 40th most in the country, according to brand new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data outlined in Environment Minnesota’s latest report, Minnesota’s Biggest Mercury Polluters. The report found that in total, power plants in Minnesota emitted 876 pounds of mercury pollution in 2010.  Environment Minnesota’s report comes as EPA is set to finalize a standard to limit mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants this month.

News Release | Environment Minnesota

New Report Shows Toxic Mercury Emissions Threaten Minnesotans

XCEL Energy’s Sherburne County power plant (Sherco) in Becker emits the most mercury pollution of any power plant in Minnesota and the 40th most in the country, according to brand new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data outlined in Environment Minnesota’s latest report, Minnesota’s Biggest Mercury Polluters. The report found that in total, power plants in Minnesota emitted 876 pounds of mercury pollution in 2010.  Environment Minnesota’s report comes as EPA is set to finalize a standard to limit mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants this month.

News Release | Environment Minnesota

Senators Klobuchar and Franken Vote to Protect Public Health

To the disappointment of major polluters. Today the U.S. Senate defeated Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s bid to allow more soot and smog-forming pollution from power plants. Sen. Paul’s legislation would have put 193 lives at risk in Minnesota and 34,000 lives at risk across the county each year. Senators Klobuchar and Franken stood up for public health and voted against this dangerous proposal.

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