Environment

The national chapter of the Sierra Club has launched an ad attacking Rep. Michele Bachmann for what the group says are close ties to the oil industry. The ads are in their second week of a two-week run on television stations in Bachmann’s district, according to Sierra Club Action, the political wing of the environmental [...]

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Friday that the federal government was removing the gray wolf from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Minnesota’s gray wolf population is one the nation’s largest, second only to Alaska.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously approved the Certificate of Need for a transmission line project necessary for the construction of the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant in Milbank, South Dakota.

Despite a room full of citizens opposed to the plants construction for environmental concerns, many holding signs and some dressed in animal costumes, the PUC did not deliberate on the coal-fired facility itself or the environmental impacts that it may have, focusing instead on the cost of the project and its implications for utility rate payers.

A years-long battle over a proposed coal plant in South Dakota could come to a close during a Minnesota Public Utility Commission hearing in St. Paul this Thursday. The commission will decide on whether to issue a Certificate of Need for transmission line upgrades in Minnesota required to construct the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant.

If the certificate is denied the project will likely be scrapped entirely. If approved, environmental groups will be left with little recourse against the plant’s construction.

A proposed constitutional amendment to provide dedicated funding for the environment and arts during the next 25 years is proving to be one of the most intriguing statewide election battles, with two patchwork coalitions at odds over issues of constitutionality, taxes and civic priority.