Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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Three Minneapolis environmental activists started a hunger strike Friday, in a push for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners to close the county’s trash incinerator. 

Natasha Villanueva stopped eating as of Friday morning. She lives in the north Minneapolis neighborhood adjacent to the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, known as the HERC, and she worries about the pollution from the site.

At a press conference outside Hennepin County Government Center Friday morning, she said she’s contacted her commissioners and shown up to several public meetings to ask questions about the incinerator and push for a closure plan. She said she hasn’t gotten a satisfying response from her elected officials. 

“We have come to this point because no action has been taken,” Villanueva said. 

The Hennepin County board made a plan in 2023 to 

 between 2028 and 2040. But activists say the board is working too slowly toward that plan. They say the air pollution from the incinerator needs to stop sooner — especially given its location in north Minneapolis just outside downtown, in a neighborhood where pollution levels and asthma rates are already high.

The hunger strikers say they plan to drink only water during the strike and not eat until the board meets their demands. They’re asking the board to call a vote to commit to a closure by the end of next year. They also want the board to form a community task force to decide what to do with the site after it closes.

Nazir Khan is the director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, one of the organizations pushing for the closure of the HERC. He’s also going on the hunger strike. He said it’s meant to escalate pressure on the board to set that vote.

“All we need is one commissioner to call the votes,” Khan said. “The only way to get them to do that, since they don’t care about the people, is to wake enough people up so this becomes a crisis for them.” 

The third striker, Joshua Lewis, said he’s looking at the hunger strike as both a political and a spiritual action. 

“No community should have to organize a hunger strike just to demand the right to breathe clean air,” Lewis said. “No child should grow up under a sky marked by waste infrastructure and political neglect.” 

The three hunger strikers, joined by a few dozen supporters, went into the commissioners’ offices on Friday to deliver a letter from Villanueva outlining the plan for the strike and their demands. Villanueva asked a front desk worker if she could speak to her commissioner, board chair Irene Fernando; the employee said none of the commissioners were in the building. 

Villanueva said she’s frustrated by the lack of response. She said she also did not get an answer when she reached out to Fernando to inform her that she was starting the hunger strike.

“It was part of a pattern of disregard for constituents, and to me, that’s unacceptable and led to our escalation,” Villanueva said. “We deserve a response from our elected officials.” 

Fernando’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment from MPR News. 

In a statement sent to MPR News, commissioner Heather Edelson said she shares the goal of closing the HERC, but that it will take time.

“I care about the people behind this movement, and I am genuinely concerned for their health and safety,” Edelson said. “A hunger strike is a serious and risky step, and I hope we can continue this conversation in a way that keeps everyone safe.” 

 to shut down the HERC says a significant reduction in solid waste is needed first. Some of the steps toward that — including banning recyclable and organic materials from landfills and reducing single-use plastics — would involve policy changes at the state level. 

About half of the county’s trash currently goes into the HERC. It’s burned to produce electricity, which Xcel Energy buys. 

Facilities that convert waste into energy are meant to repurpose trash and divert it from landfills. But activists say it’s not worth the air pollution that comes with burning trash — especially in a residential neighborhood. 

Commissioner Edelson said the county needs to avoid putting more waste into landfills.

“Because landfills are not a viable long-term solution given our climate and equity goals, we must first build a stronger, more sustainable waste system, and that work is well underway,” Edelson said.

Hunger strikers say they’re working with a medical team to monitor their health as the strike continues. They’re planning to keep reaching out to their commissioners and set up protests outside the county government offices to keep the pressure up.

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Estelle Timar-Wilcox

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Three Minneapolis environmental activists started a hunger strike Friday, in a push for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners to close the county’s trash incinerator. 


Minneapolis activists start hunger strike in push for closure of trash incinerator

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