Mpca

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) won’t take a position — yet — on whether to require a new environmental study before Hennepin County’s downtown Minneapolis incinerator can burn more trash, because the agency doesn’t have a pending application for the project.

Just like in the Atlantic Ocean, where an oil slick came not from a downed Air France jet but from who-knows-what, officials in Minnesota want help explaining how 1,000 gallons of diesel got into the Mississippi River last week and stunk up Winona. Deck-chair detectives set on solving the mystery can take Skipperliner riverboats last [...]

Before you go for a dip in one of Minnesota’s 11,842 lakes this summer or fry up a shore lunch of fish caught from one of those lakes, you might want to check your lake for mercury or fertilizer-induced algae blooms at Checkmylake.org. The new website from Conservation Minnesota allows Minnesotans to find out whether [...]

With Sunshine Week just around the corner, State Administration Commissioner Dana Badgerow is singing a different tune: send in the clouds. Badgerow ruled last month that Minnesotans can no longer get home contact info for fellow citizens who serve on government boards, Pat Doyle reports in today’s Strib. It’s a reversal from last fall, when [...]

Five Minnesota organizations are among the first to sign up for a national greenhouse gas emissions registry.

Xcel Energy, Great River Energy, the Metropolitan Council, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and The Appliance Recycling Centers of America have joined The Climate Registry, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit hoping to standardize emission reporting and measurement. The registry is [...]

Editor’s note: As we count down the final days of 2007, we look back at some of the most interesting or important stories of the past year. Here’s the third in this ongoing series.

The last year has been marked by three separate but significant failures of state government: the collapse of the 35W bridge, [...]

The November 2007 State Economic Forecast estimates the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will spend $650,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $400,000 in fiscal year 2009 on per-fluorochemical (PFC) contamination. The $1.05 million will be used for analysis and technical assistance during the cleanup of the contaminated areas.
In May, 3M reached an agreement with [...]

Paul Wotzka, the fired Minnesota Pollution Control Authority hydrologist, has dropped his lawsuit against the MPCA for the time being. Wotzka alleged that he was terminated because of his willingness to testify that the Minnesota Agricultural Department was under-reporting levels of the pesticide atrazine in state waters. Wotzka has stated that legal maneuvers by the [...]

Dressed casually in a work shirt and slacks, former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton was back on the stump Friday at Minnesota State University, Mankato, addressing a small group of students, faculty, staff and local citizens about environmental challenges facing the state.
The gathering was the fourth annual Green Conference held on the campus mall.
In [...]