3 key takeaways from our recent webinar - “Defending True North: Holding Agencies Accountable”

Last month 375 people registered to join our webinar “Defending True North: Holding Agencies Accountable.” This important topic kicked off MCEA’s 50th year - five decades shaped by our mission to protect the health of Minnesota’s environment through law and science. 

Our discussion focused on three examples where we’ve seen industry interests prioritized over the health of Minnesota’s environment and people — the proposed PolyMet mine, agricultural nitrate contamination in drinking water, and the polluting Smith Foundry in Minneapolis. Our CEO Kathryn Hoffman and Chief Legal Strategist Leigh Currie provided their perspectives on these issues and the changes necessary to strengthen our regulatory agencies. 

Here are three important insights from our recent webinar.

1. Your voice matters 

One question that was asked multiple times during the webinar was “How can everyday people ensure accountability for agency protection when regulatory capture seems prevalent, and the systems may favor corporate interests over local concerns?”

It may not always feel like it, but contacting your legislators directly is a powerful way to advocate for change. Leigh Currie related that she heard a legislator say, “I know this is a big issue, I’ve had five people call me directly.” 

This means that your phone call could make the difference when decision makers are weighing public interest in the environment and a corporation’s interest in profit. It also means that reaching out to friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about what matters to you can build the momentum necessary for change. Our personal connections are most likely to break through the noise of social media and endless emails. 

Supporting organizations like MCEA, staying informed about important issues, contacting representatives, and talking with your networks are all great ways to hold agencies accountable.

Local action and community meetings are another venue to connect with other people who care and decision makers. Check out these photos from a community meeting with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) where community members addressed agencies directly. 

2. Creating strong agencies is achievable 

When our opponents criticize environmental enforcement, it’s because they want to weaken it - our purpose is to create stronger agencies that know the public supports them when they do their job to protect us from pollution. It’s easy to point out what’s flawed in the system, it’s harder to come up with answers, but we have three recommendations agencies can take to start holding polluters accountable. 

1. Commit to taking immediate action when companies violate our laws. In any circumstance where there is a violation that risks Minnesota’s public health, safety, or natural resources, seek an immediate, temporary shutdown of the polluting facility.

2. For any facility that breaks the law and pollutes, seek the maximum penalties allowed by law. 

3. Triple the enforcement budget of the Pollution Control Agency. Our state agencies need more resources to regularly inspect facilities and pursue enforcement action and penalties.

We made it easy to send this message to Governor Walz. 

3. MCEA is on the job

What each of these three cases have in common is that it took outside pressure for state agencies to take threats to our environment and health seriously, whether that be a court or a federal agency. As a watchdog organization, holding agencies accountable has been central to our work for 50 years. Working with our clients, partners, and impacted community members, we use our legal expertise toensure the environment and affected communities have a voice. 

Each of the cases we discussed is a clear example of how our work has made an impact, and how your support makes it possible. 

For example, over one thousand of you signed our petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare a drinking water crisis in southeast Minnesota. Working on an entrenched issue like agricultural nitrate pollution means we have to use many levers to create change. That means raising awareness, having critical conversations, and seeking solutions with our legislature. 

This is one example of many that shows how necessary lawyers and policy experts are to protect Minnesota’s environment. In 1974, MCEA was founded on the premise that industry has good lawyers, and the environment needs good lawyers, too. Since then, MCEA’s legal team has been at the forefront of holding the government and corporations accountable to our environmental laws.

Celebrate 50 years of Defending True North with us - together we’re shaping a better future for us all. 

If you couldn’t join us you can watch the recording. And be sure to sign up for our March webinar, “Climate Justice and Indigenous Rights at the MN 2024 Legislature.”