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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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Stalled SW Minn. water project up for vote

The Lewis & Clark Regional Water System is supposed to deliver Missouri River water to southwest Minnesota. But construction ended when Congress failed to deliver promised funding.
by Mark Steil

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A fight over vineyards pits redwoods against red wine

A fight over vineyards pits redwoods against red wine

Environmental groups in Santa Rosa, Calif., are fighting to stop a Spanish-owned winery from leveling 154 acres of coast redwoods and Douglas firs to make way for grapevines. Redwoods only grow in the relatively cool coastal region of Northern California and southern Oregon. Parts of this range, such as northwestern Sonoma County, have become increasingly coveted by winemakers.

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'It takes a crisis': How '73 oil embargo fueled change In US

'It takes a crisis': How '73 oil embargo fueled change In US

Americans started thinking differently about U.S. dependence on imported oil 40 years ago Sunday. Decades later, the U.S. is in the midst of a homegrown energy boom.

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State seeks input on frac sand regulations

An oversight board is developing rules for mining, processing and transporting silica sand - used in hydraulic fracturing.
by Elizabeth Baier

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Charges possible for toppled ancient Utah rock

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.

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Pipeline to nowhere in southwest Minnesota?

For Minnesota, the Lewis and Clark water project could become a pipeline to nowhere.
by Mark Steil

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Voyageurs National Park reopens as shutdown ends

Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is reopening to visitors, now that the federal government shutdown is over.

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State wolf hunt continues to divide

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.
by Dan Kraker

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Historian Annette Atkins on learning the history of your town

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.

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