MCEA July 2024 Newsletter
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In this edition of MCEA’s Environmental Monitor:
- Discover the environmental threat hiding under our feet
- Take action to keep Big Ag from wrecking our water
- 10 things you need to know about the attempt to undermine MN’s 100 percent law
- Join us on the path forward
- Get early bird tickets to our annual fall event
- Breaking news: Smith Foundry to cease operations immediately
- Find out what your actions helped accomplish this month
- Trivia: What was PolyMet before it was PolyMet?
- Join MCEA CEO Kathryn Hoffman and Chief Legal Officer Leigh Currie in Ely
- What we’re listening to: The Chevron decision and Minnesota
The “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrate-contaminated drinking water. Fish kills. Algal blooms. These are environmental issues you’ve likely heard of, but do you know what they all have in common?
Learn more about the threat buried under our feet. Find out what it is, why MCEA’s Chief Legal Strategist is thinking about it, and what we can do to help stop the pollution it’s spreading from our lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
Check out our latest blog post
Did you know manure from large industrial feedlots, known as CAFOs, is one of the biggest drivers of a drinking water crisis threatening the health of Minnesotans?
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is proposing revisions to the Feedlot General Permit for water pollution that CAFOs need to operate, creating an opportunity for the public to influence how Minnesota’s largest feedlots do business. With the right changes to the permit, we can finally start to move the needle on this worsening crisis.
MCEA is submitting a comment urging the state to impose a statewide ban on winter manure spreading, place conditions on fall spreading, and require more robust monitoring of runoff by feedlot operators.
This is an important opportunity for the public to use their power and push agencies for strong protections for our water. Please consider forwarding this message to 3 friends to bolster our stand.
Tell the state you support our comment
Minnesota’s landmark climate bill that passed in 2023 is at risk of getting undermined before it’s even implemented. Here's what you need to know about the threat and what MCEA is doing about it.
Get your tickets today for our annual fall event, Defending True North. Come celebrate MCEA’s 50th year protecting the environment we all love - and look forward to the next 50!
Last year we had an amazing time connecting with people who are just as passionate about our collective future. We can’t wait to see you again this year. Get your early-bird tickets today and save $20 on the ticket price!
Recently, a supporter asked if raising resources for nonprofits is akin to begging. At MCEA, nothing could be further from the truth. These are challenging times in a weary world, yet we know that collective action is the path forward. When we link arms with each other, we are at our most powerful. And it feels good to be investing in change.
We no longer need to convince people that the impacts of ignoring the environment are very real. People dealing with contaminated drinking water don’t need further evidence to prove that our water management system isn’t working. And folks who live in perpetually overlooked communities don’t need further proof of the poor air quality in their neighborhoods -- they can taste the pollutants in their mouths, and see it in the numbers of kids who carry inhalers.
The energy that we once spent on convincing people to wake up to environmental degradation is now spent reminding folks that there is still much we can do to slow the impacts of change. Supporting nonprofits working in areas that matter to you is an effective way to bring about change. We’re so grateful for the thousands of people who have decided that MCEA’s statewide leadership and advocacy is the right way to bring about the systems-change we need - thank you!
So we said to our beloved supporter, “Sure, it’s challenging, but everyone wants to breathe easier and have clean water! It’s a joy to invite people into this work, where our collective efforts stake a claim for a better environmental future.”
Thanks for joining the thousands of individuals who support MCEA - we couldn’t do this without you.
This month, hundreds of supporters reached out to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and asked them to extend the comment period on a first-of-its-kind PFAS wastewater permit. It worked!
This comment period is important because the draft permit marks an important milestone in PFAS regulation in Minnesota and it will shape the direction of future wastewater permits statewide. It is also a critical piece of the broader work to hold the 3M corporation accountable for years of unregulated PFAS pollution that has contaminated our groundwater and surface waters and had profound public health impacts.
The public will now have more time to fully understand how these numeric limits were reached, what they mean to downstream communities, and how this fits into the larger plan to regulate these compounds and hold polluters accountable.
Thank you for taking action with us! You can read our report to better understand the connections between PFAS contamination and wastewater.
Breaking news: This weekend Smith Foundry announced it will cease ALL operations August 15th. Read more about this exciting win for public health and environmental justice on our website.
Are you in the Ely area? Join the Tuesday Group at the Grand Ely Lodge on August 6th at noon to hear from MCEA’s CEO Kathryn Hoffman and Chief Legal Officer Leigh Currie. They’ll be sharing what we’re up to in the Northland at the weekly community gathering.
What’s in a name? We’d say a copper-sulfide mine by any other name still spells a risk to our water. We're gearing up for our annual Duluth Get Together tonight and reflecting on the PolyMet proposal. We hope to see some of you there to celebrate our collective work.
As our Northeastern Minnesota Program Director JT Haines was researching the last twenty years of our work on protecting Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, and streams from sulfide-mining pollution, he came across a fact even he didn’t know.
What was PolyMet called before it became PolyMet in 1998?
a) Compass Minerals
b) Northern Star
c) Fleck Resources
d) Mining R Us
Wondering how the recent Supreme Court Chevron ruling on the role of government agencies could impact Minnesota's environment?
MCEA's Chief Legal Officer, Leigh Currie breaks it down on MPR's Morning Edition with Cathy Wurzer.