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.

Submit a question or story for Getting to Green here.

Climate Cast

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

Utah authorities are considering pressing charges against a Boy Scouts leader who purposely knocked over an ancient Utah desert rock formation and the two men who cheered him on.
For Minnesota, the Lewis and Clark water project could become a pipeline to nowhere.
Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is reopening to visitors, now that the federal government shutdown is over.
State wolf hunt continues to divide
The Department of Natural Resources has cut the number of wolves that hunters can kill this year, which frustrates hunters and trappers. But Native American groups and the Humane Society want to see the hunt stopped altogether.
Historian Annette Atkins on learning the history of your town
Part 1: Annette Atkins says every place has a history, and you can learn about a town and its people by closely observing the world around you. Hear Professor Atkins's talk "Walking Through Our Past: History on the Ground (the Water?)" given October 11, 2013 in Stillwater, Minnesota's oldest town. It was a program of the University of St. Thomas Selim Center for Learning in Later Years. Part 2: Stephanie Hemphill's reports on the birds and moose of Minnesota.
Northshore Mining wants to expand its Peter Mitchell Mine south of Babbitt, Minn. Environmental groups, arguing the expansion could cause acid mine drainage, petitioned the Department of Natural Resources for an environmental assessment.
Scientists doubt N. Dakota oil spill estimates
Scientists who helped calculate oil spilled from a broken BP well into the Gulf of Mexico are questioning the methodology used to estimate the amount of crude that recently leaked from a ruptured pipeline into a wheat field in northwestern North Dakota.
Wisconsin's goal is to reduce the population of gray wolves from its current level of more than 800, down to 350. Hunt opponents say 350 wolves is too few to maintain a sustainable population.
Instances of people feeding wildlife has increased as urban and suburban developments have steadily encroached on wildlife habitat -- and this is not necessarily good for the animals. Foxes, for instance, are growing increasingly tame.
The handling of an oil spill in North Dakota is raising eyebrows after a state agency waited to tell the public it had taken place. A wheat farmer was the first to recognize the spill had happened; it became public knowledge nearly two weeks later.