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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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Climate Cast

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

DNR to review proposed taconite mine expansion in northeast Minn.

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.
by Dan Kraker

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Scientists doubt N. Dakota oil spill estimates

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.

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Wisconsin authorizes more kills in second wolf hunting season

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.
by Dan Kraker

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DNR asks Duluth residents to stop feeding wild animals

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.
by Dan Kraker

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North Dakota's delay in reporting oil spill raises questions

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.

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Frac sand health fears rise as mining booms in Wisconsin

Frac sand health fears rise as mining booms in Wisconsin

Some Wisconsin residents are frustrated with the Department of Natural Resources' lack of a comprehensive approach to addressing concerns surrounding potential health problems from crystalline silica dust.

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Algae fixes may trigger more lake pollution

According to a new University of Minnesota study published online Thursday in the journal Science, reducing phosphorus can result in less of the microbial processes that eliminate another unwanted nutrient: nitrogen.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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ND pipeline spews more than 20K barrels of oil

Over 20,000 barrels of oil have spilled in a wheat field in northwestern North Dakota.

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Groups want the state to reconsider the costs of generating power

In the mid-1990s, the Public Utilities Commission began to calculate what economists call the "external costs" — damages — caused by electricity generation. They include pollutants that contribute to asthma, heart and lung disease, and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
by Stephanie Hemphill

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Potato grower's purchase of forestland draws scrutiny

The sale of forestland to a big potato grower in northern Minnesota is drawing fire from some legislators who are concerned that runoff from the fields could pollute the Pinelands Sands aquifer.
by Stephanie Hemphill

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