Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

06/10/2026

Join us tomorrow as we host a webinar that goes over the important steps needed to stop the Magellan Pipeline!!

Thursday, June 11th
3:00pm PST 5:00pm CST 6:00pm EST

Register Here: bit.ly/protect-pipestone

Deny the Magellan Pipeline permit!

06/10/2026

A court agreed with an environmental group's argument that the City of Faribault had not conducted a thorough enough review of the proposed hyperscale data center.

More: https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/in-win-for-environmental-group-court-orders-faribault-to-conduct-new-review-of-massive-data-center

06/10/2026

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, a member of the Zero Burn Coalition, will send Hennepin County a legal demand letter requiring the county to comply with state law by accounting for the lead, mercury, dioxins, and forever chemicals in the HERC trash burner's ash.

06/09/2026

Yesterday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the environmental review of a proposed hyperscale data center in Faribault violated the law. The City must now go back and perform the complete, transparent analysis of the project's impacts on the community and its natural resources that our state laws mandate.

This is a big win, and here's why it matters.

Environmental review isn't a bureaucratic formality. It’s the one moment in the entire permitting process when the public gets to understand a proposal in full, including its costs, benefits, potential impacts, and it’s our chance to weigh in before their elected officials vote. It is the foundation of transparent, democratic decision-making about what gets built in our communities.

In the Faribault case, the environmental review failed to meet our state standards. The study reported greenhouse gas emissions 98% lower than what MCEA expected for a facility of its size, because it assumed the data center would use no more electricity than a typical warehouse.

In reality, this project could require as much energy daily as the entire city of St. Cloud. That critical information was left out. So was any meaningful analysis of noise, air pollution, and the project's contribution to the broader wave of data center development that could strain Minnesota's water supply and threaten our clean energy goals.

The Court agreed with us on every major argument. The message is clear. The industry playbook of rushing massive projects forward without disclosing their environmental impacts doesn't work in Minnesota.

https://loom.ly/7hJp0Ck

05/27/2026

IMPORTANT WIN!

As MCEA's Joy Anderson said about the ruling, "There's so many people in Pine Island who are so concerned about what this is going to do there to their community. We're really pleased that the court recognized that this should be slowed down and fully examined."

Learn more: https://loom.ly/GOHh27A

05/22/2026

Wetlands are Minnesota’s unsung heroes - filtering our water, storing carbon, buffering floods, sheltering wildlife, and quietly providing the backdrop for some of our most cherished outdoor experiences. Right now, they need our protection.

Minnesota will soon have the chance to step up and protect our wetlands for future generations in the face of aggressive federal rollbacks.

Watch our latest webinar to learn more about the environmental powers of wetlands and how we can be responsible stewards of these incredible ecosystems for today and tomorrow.

Panelists include experts from Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, The Nature Conservancy, and Pew Charitable Trusts.

https://loom.ly/33bSflM

Wetlands are Minnesota’s unsung heroes - filtering our water, storing carbon, buffering floods, sheltering wildlife, and quietly providing the backdrop for some of our most cherished outdoor experiences. Right now, they need our protection.   

05/21/2026

The U.S. Senate voted to strip federal protections from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The story they want us to believe is that the path is cleared for a Chilean mining company to build a copper-sulfide mine within one of our state’s most iconic and beloved watersheds.

But the fight is far from over. It's just moved to Minnesota.

Watch this webinar where MCEA and Friends of the Boundary Waters' experts discuss how to leverage our state laws and authority to protect our water, what comes next in this ongoing battle, and how you can help.

https://loom.ly/LTUyYao

05/20/2026

"Lying to Minnesotans about the dangers of a product in order to sell more of it is illegal, and we deserve to hold the defendants accountable in court. Yet here is the Trump administration, filing a Hail Mary lawsuit to block our state from enforcing our own laws and shield the fossil fuel industry from facing the consequences of their actions." MCEA Legal Officer Leigh Currie

https://loom.ly/GsvBWDY

The Trump administration is attempting to keep our taxpayers shouldering the climate costs that Big Oil companies racked up, while blocking our state from having its day in court.

05/19/2026

Wetlands are Minnesota’s unsung heroes - filtering our water, storing carbon, buffering floods, sheltering wildlife, and quietly providing the backdrop for some of our most cherished outdoor experiences. Right now, they need our protection.

Minnesota has the chance to step up and protect our wetlands for future generations in the face of aggressive federal rollbacks.

Register today for our next webinar to learn more about the environmental powers of wetlands and how we can be responsible stewards of these incredible ecosystems for today and tomorrow.

Panelists include experts from Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, The Nature Conservancy, and Pew Charitable Trusts.

https://loom.ly/eb2v5Pw