November Newsletter Trivia: The answer is...

The answer is: B - 123

Although the law was limited to Rochester, Duluth, and the seven-county metro, more than 100 facilities could be affected by the Cumulative Impacts law. These facilities would be in areas where people are already facing multiple other sources of pollution, like heavy traffic, or concentrations of industry that are impacting people’s health. These concentrations of pollution are often in neighborhoods where many Black people, Indigenous people, other people of color, immigrants, or low-income earners live. This is a form of environmental injustice that unfairly burdens people based on their class and identity. 

That said, the criteria and process to determine if a facility needs additional environmental analysis have not yet been created, nor have the rules regarding community involvement or benefit agreements.

That criteria will be developed over the next three years as a part of Minnesota’s “rule-making” process that happens for new laws. Because there is so much yet to be decided, and because these decisions will determine the strength of the law, MCEA is committed to continuing our coalition work on cumulative impacts throughout the rule-making process.