Environmental News

MPR News is your source for environment news from Minnesota and across the country.

Getting to Green: Minnesota’s energy future

Getting to Green is an MPR News series that shares stories about Minnesota’s clean energy transition, including what needs to be done to get there.

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Climate Cast

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Alex Weber discovered more than 50,000 balls in the ocean near coastal California golf courses. When golf balls degrade, as these were doing, they release plastic particles and toxic chemicals.
From disease to habitat loss, researchers lay out Minnesota's bleak climate realities
Minnesota lawmakers considering new legislation for reducing greenhouse gas emissions got their second crash course Thursday. This time, it was on all the ways climate change is already harming the state.
Key Democrat wants answers from EPA on Minnesota mine plan
U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a critic of the project, said she found it "remarkable" that the federal agency did not formally weigh in before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued the final water and air permits for the project last month.
Minnesota farmers high on hemp's potential
Congress legalized industrial hemp as a crop in the latest farm bill -- and Minnesota farmers and economic development officials are ready to jump into the new industry. Minnesota's hemp program coordinator urges caution as the state breaks new ground.
EPA nominee Wheeler says he champions deregulation; Dems call him 'extreme'
Acting Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler began his testimony Wednesday over the chants of environmental protesters, who shouted "Shut Down Wheeler" in the committee room and the hallway outside.
'Absurd': 3 Minnesota towns crushed state rainfall records last year
Harmony's 2018 rain total would have been common for a Gulf Coast city, not Minnesota. But massive rainfalls are the new normal as the climate changes. A state climatologist expects Minnesota's precipitation record to be broken again soon.