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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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Listen to Climate Cast, the MPR News podcast all about our changing climate and its impact in Minnesota and worldwide.

The PolyMet mining damage deposit: A landlord's advice

The PolyMet mining damage deposit: A landlord's advice

A landlord hopes a tenant's damage deposit will cover cleanup and repair costs, just as the state of Minnesota hopes financial assurance would protect the state's taxpayers from future cleanup and reclamation costs years from now at PolyMet's proposed copper-nickel mine and processing facility.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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Copenhagen Zoo euthanizes giraffe despite online protest

Copenhagen Zoo euthanizes giraffe despite online protest

Bengt Holst said euthanizing the 2-year-old giraffe was for the good of the greater giraffe population and it also served as an opportunity to "educate people."

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Scrutiny of PolyMet proposal turns to cleanup

Scrutiny of PolyMet proposal turns to cleanup

A Minnesota House committee will look Tuesday at whether the financial assurance package can be structured to protect taxpayers now and potentially centuries into the future.
by Steve Karnowski, Associated Press

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Feds to spend $30M on forests across US, including in Minn.

Feds to spend $30M on forests across US, including in Minn.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday it will spend $30 million this year on forest restoration projects in 12 states to reduce the threat of wildfires, protect water quality and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species.

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Cleanup of Winona oil spill begins Thursday

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is requiring the company to clean up portions of the spill where puddles of oil have accumulated or are on top of snow.
by Elizabeth Baier

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MPCA investigates 12K-gallon oil spill near Winona

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was investigating Tuesday after a Canadian Pacific Railway train dribbled about 12,000 gallons of crude oil along 68 miles of track between Winona and Red Wing in southeastern Minnesota.
by The Associated Press

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Republicans seek Endangered Species Act changes

Republicans seek Endangered Species Act changes

A group of 13 GOP lawmakers representing states across the U.S. planned to release a report Tuesday proposing alterations to the 40-year-old law, which protects imperiled plants and animals.
by The Associated Press

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How you can track the thousands of crows that roost nightly near downtown Mpls.

How you can track the thousands of crows that roost nightly near downtown Mpls.

Have you every driven up I-35W in south Minneapolis on a winter evening and seen what, at first glance, looks like a dark cloud overhead? It could actually be a murder of crows flying home to their roosts near downtown Minneapolis.
by Tom Crann

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Keystone XL pipeline report creates political headache for Obama

Keystone XL pipeline report creates political headache for Obama

Any expectation that a new State Department report would clarify the Keystone XL pipeline issue went up in smoke in recent days. In the aftermath of a conclusion that downplayed the oil pipeline's potential effects on climate change, the issue has gotten even more politically complicated for the Obama White House.
by Liz Halloran

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Researchers to collar 52 adult moose in NE Minn.

Researchers to collar 52 adult moose in NE Minn.

Researchers plan to collar 52 adult moose in northeastern Minnesota starting this week in the second year of a high-tech study to determine why the iconic species is disappearing from the state.
by The Associated Press

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