Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

08/25/2026

Are you deeply committed to protecting Minnesota's environment?
Are you also organized, efficient, and detail-oriented?

Then the Executive Assistant position at MCEA might be a good fit for you.

Learn more about the role: https://www.mncenter.org/executive-assistant

08/18/2026

The federal government has made it clear that they’re more interested in serving the interests of international mining companies than in protecting the clean water Minnesotans depend on. Today, Governor Walz took a huge step forward to remind these corporations and politicians that we get to decide the true value of our water, a value that we measure in generations, not dollars.

His executive order pauses environmental review and permitting, directs state agencies to not participate in any joint federal/state reviews, and to stop issuing state leases for sulfide mining in the Boundary Waters watershed.

This news confirms what we and our supporters have long known, the risk that copper sulfide mining poses to Minnesota’s water is too great for our state to permit risky proposals. If it’s too dangerous for the Boundary Waters, it’s too dangerous for our other treasured watersheds like Lake Superior and the Mississippi River.

Click here to show your support for permanent protections for the BWCA and to thank Walz for this action: https://www.mncenter.org/thank-gov-walz-protecting-bwca

08/17/2026

"Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is untracked and unregulated in Minnesota, yet it is the largest source of nitrate pollution. We are trying to address a pollution problem we are not even fully measuring, and the evidence is mounting that Minnesota’s current approaches are not working to get a handle on pollution."

https://loom.ly/HSOx0qY

"These are the nutrient pollution stories you can see: dead fish, terrible smell, closed beaches. There’s a second version, harder to spot, in the rivers where I guide and in the water people drink there," M***a Hayner writes.

08/04/2026

Lake Superior needs your voice now. Send the PolyMet sulfide mine proposal back to the drawing board.

Minnesota's greatest lake doesn't get a second chance if the DNR grants a copper-sulfide mining permit that could create hundreds of years of pollution.

The PolyMet permit to mine was struck down by the Minnesota Supreme Court, because it failed to protect our clean water and failed to meet our laws. Now five years after this court decision, PolyMet has rebranded as NewRange and wants to use this rejected permit to fast track a new mine plan.

The DNR is currently deciding whether this new plan needs a full environmental review. But Minnesota knows it does. Sulfide mining has an unbroken track record of polluting water. DNR can't take that chance with Lake Superior.

Minnesota needs a comprehensive environmental review from scratch, with full public input, not a rubber stamp on a plan that courts have already rejected.

https://www.mncenter.org/send-polymet-back-drawing-board

07/31/2026

Send the PolyMet sulfide mine proposal back to the drawing board.

Minnesota's greatest lake doesn't get a second chance if the DNR grants a copper-sulfide mining permit that could create hundreds of years of pollution.

The PolyMet permit to mine was struck down by the Minnesota Supreme Court, because it failed to protect our clean water and failed to meet our laws. Now five years after this court decision, PolyMet has rebranded as NewRange and wants to use this rejected permit to fast track a new mine plan.

The DNR is currently deciding whether this new plan needs a full environmental review. But Minnesota knows it does. Sulfide mining has an unbroken track record of polluting water. DNR can't take that chance with Lake Superior.

Join us in demanding a comprehensive environmental review from scratch, with full public input, not a rubber stamp on a plan that courts have already rejected.

https://loom.ly/J6Q5ynA

07/23/2026

Minnesota cities can’t carry the cost of climate change alone.

https://loom.ly/o6jdPyU

It’s time for the largest fossil fuel polluters to pay to clean up the mess they knowingly caused, Rochester's mayor writes.

07/21/2026

The public comment period for another risky sulfide mining threat in our state is underway, and Minnesotans have until September 12 to weigh in on how it could affect waters flowing through the Mississippi and St. Croix River watersheds.

The Tamarack Mine is a proposed nickel mine in Central Minnesota, about two hours north of the Twin Cities. While sulfide mining proposals remain under consideration in the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior watersheds, the Tamarack Mine is the one currently advancing through the environmental review process.

Sulfide mining is one of the most toxic industries in the country due to the risks it poses to clean water from acid mine drainage and forever pollution. Opening one in this location threatens the health of one of Minnesota’s most beautiful and treasured watersheds.

If you're looking for a clear, practical overview of what's at stake — and how to make your voice heard — join us in one week for a conversation with Indigenous, environmental, and legal experts who have been closely following the project and its potential impacts.

Register today https://loom.ly/7HtnSPU

06/30/2026

MCEA is hiring a Development Director. This is a critical leadership role on the the fundraising team at MCEA. In addition to managing a personal portfolio of individual donors, the Development Director oversees day-to-day operations of the department and is responsible for annual individual giving and institutional revenue goals.

We seek a candidate who is deeply committed to our mission, highly organized, experienced in and capable of leading implementation of organization-wide strategies in a collaborative fashion, and brings a long track record of fundraising growth.

Learn more about the position here: https://www.mncenter.org/development-director

06/25/2026

LIVE NOW: Hennepin County burns 365,000 tons of trash every year at the HERC trash burner. The 80,000 tons of toxic ash left over -- lead, mercury, dioxins, forever chemicals -- gets trucked across the metro to an industrial landfill in Dakota County, within a mile of Spring Lake Park Reserve.

The county's Solid Waste Management Plan does not mention incinerator ash once.

Now they're facing a legal demand over it.
Tune in. Share this. Drop your questions in the comments.

06/25/2026

MCEA is hiring for a Director of Communications and Marketing. This person will be a creative, data-driven, and results-oriented leader who will drive MCEA's multitiered communications strategy. They will develop and execute the organization's communications plan, leverage our staff's deep legal and scientific expertise to reach broader audiences, and help define what MCEA's next chapter looks like publicly.

We are looking for an experienced communications professional who can move audiences from curiosity to action.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know, please read more about the position here: https://www.mncenter.org/director-communications-and-marketing