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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.

EPA: Goal to reduce Gulf 'dead zone' won't be met by 2015

EPA: Goal to reduce Gulf 'dead zone' won't be met by 2015

Some environmental groups have criticized the EPA for not doing more. In 2012 several groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed two lawsuits aimed at forcing EPA action on reducing the size of the dead zone.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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3 more oil spills from flooding found in Colorado

State officials are now tracking 11 "notable" spills from the Wattenberg oil patch along the South Platte River in Weld County.

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Bracing for climate-driven extreme weather events

Bracing for climate-driven extreme weather events

UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and two top national political strategists are featured in the latest Climate One program from the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Raising tastier sea urchins for foodies and the environment

A scientist in Birmingham, Ala. is trying to help overharvested sea urchins, considered a delicacy in many parts of the world, find their way back to a restaurant near you.

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Raising tastier sea urchins for foodies and environment

Sea urchins are considered a culinary delicacy in many parts of the world, including Japan and the United States. The market is growing so fast that supply can't keep up with demand.

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Sierra Club to Xcel: Retire 2 Sherco coal generators

Sierra Club to Xcel: Retire 2 Sherco coal generators

Sierra Club is urging Xcel Energy to retire two of its coal-powered generators at the Sherco Plant as Xcel prepares to negotiate the plant's future with state regulators.
by Elizabeth Dunbar

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Stingless wasps: How much do they help in the fight to save ash trees?

Stingless wasps: How much do they help in the fight to save ash trees?

A new study will help researchers determine whether to continue releasing stingless wasps as a strategy in the battle against the emerald ash borer, a tiny invasive beetle that's posing a dire threat to Minnesota's ash trees.
by Elizabeth Baier

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Expect ducks aplenty on hunting season's opener

Expect ducks aplenty on hunting season's opener

Minnesota's waterfowl hunting season opens Saturday and the odds are good hunters will see lots of ducks.
by Dan Gunderson

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Arctic sea ice 6th lowest, but rebounds from 2012

The amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank this summer to the sixth lowest level, but that's much higher than last year's record low.

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Making food from flies (it's not that icky)

The people behind, EnviroFlight, a small insect factory, don't expect you to eat insects. The idea is, farmed insects will become food for fish or pigs.

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