Environmental Issues and Protection

MNGOP Rep. Gruenhagen on climate change: "It's just a complete United Nations fraud" [VIDEO]

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, is anti-gay and gets his "facts" from materials distributed at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Other than that, we're sure he's exactly the sort of elected leader Minnesota needs.SEE ALSO: MNGOP Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen: Gov't is paying minority men to im ... More >>

Julie Rosen trolls activists during frac sand hearing, says "they have to expect" misery [VIDEO]

Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, believes life is hard -- especially if you're unlucky enough to live near a frac sand deposit.SEE ALSO: Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan resigns amid frac sand lobbying controversy During a hearing earlier this week about a proposed one-year moratorium on new frac sand mines ... More >>

Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan resigns amid frac sand lobbying controversy

Two weeks after saying he didn't plan to let a lobbying controversy end his tenure as Red Wing mayor, Dennis Egan has had a change of heart.SEE ALSO: Sauk Rapids Mayor Brad Gunderson was too drunk for jail after drunk-driving arrest Egan became mayor in early 2011 and won 73 percent of the vote last ... More >>

Promised Land fights fracking

Matt Damon and John Krasinski pit big business against small-town environmentalists in this hard-sell film

7th Annual Green Gifts Fair

Kurt Bills, public school teacher, says: "I do not believe there is such a thing as climate change" [VIDEO]

Kurt Bills' no-good-very-bad U.S. Senate campaign will limp across the finish line today, but he couldn't help himself from offering up one last head-scratcher before fading out of our lives.SEE ALSO:-- Bills ad linking Klobuchar and Petters is "preposterous," says Republican bankruptcy trustee-- De ... More >>

Bill Clinton blasts Romney's climate change skepticism in Minneapolis speech [VIDEOS]

Bill Clinton was in town yesterday delivering a speech at the University of Minnesota, and during one notable passage he put Mitt Romney on blast for laughing about climate change during his RNC speech.SEE ALSO:-- Mitt Romney Glitter F-Bomb: Did he say "fuck," "faggot," or something else? [VIDEO]-- ... More >>

The Fracking Fiasco

America's latest gold rush portends the greatest environmental disaster of a generation

Wake Up Madagascar

Tim Pawlenty named to board of sand mining company

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty wasn't meant to lead a nation. But, since his August announcement to drop his 2012 presidential bid, he's made sure he's still governing something, somewhere. Pawlenty was named to Smart Sand Inc.'s Board of Directors on Wednesday, which marks his eighth appointmen ... More >>

Single-sort recycling coming to Minneapolis

Sick of sorting your recyclables into more categories than you can keep straight? 'Paper, plastic, glass, coarse, smooth.... ah, forgot it, it's going in the trash!'Those frustrations will soon be in the past, as today the Minneapolis City Council approved the introduction of single-sort recycling. ... More >>

Xiu Xiu/Dirty Beaches

University of Minnesota geologist on climate change study: "It's a warning"

Arctic sea ice is at the second-lowest point ever measured.​About 11,500 years ago, at the tail end of the Pleistocene era, the Earth began to warm up. The planet's climate has fluctuated since time immemorial. But this period of climate change came less like a stone warming in the sun, and more l ... More >>

Twin Cities air pollution health advisory issued

The pollution warning expires at midnight.​It seems we'll never run into a shortage of reasons to complain about the weather here in Minnesota. Just a few months ago, we were still whining about a cold and snowy winter that had long overstayed its welcome. Today, it's so damn hot and sunny ... More >>

Xcel Energy, EPA win Supreme Court battle on climate change laws

WikipediaXcel Energy and other utilities sided with the EPA in court and won.​In news that initially sounds like a contradiction in terms, the Environmental Protection Agency and five major utility companies including Minnesota-based Xcel Energy, have scored a win together in the U.S. Supreme ... More >>

Sen. Michael Jungbauer denies climate science, and faking his resume

Sen. Mike Jungbauer, climate expert.​State Sen. Michael Jungbauer says he's smarter than 98 percent of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to studying climatology, and dismisses their work on climate change and global warming as alarmist nonsense. What gives the Republican from E ... More >>

American Lung Association: Ramsey County's air gets a "D"

Broken HaikuTime to clear the air.​Smell something bad? The American Lung Association is out with a new study today that shows Ramsey County fell from a "C" to a "D" grade when it comes to air quality -- the worst in the state. Based on EPA data on ozone and particle pollution from 2007-2009, ... More >>

Will Steger baffled by Tim Pawlenty's global warming flip flop

Steger sees the politics behind Pawlenty's about face.​Arctic explorer Will Steger, who's seen more evidence of global warming up close and personal than most of us ever will outside the pages of National Geographic, was once really proud of the way Tim Pawlenty listened to science and evidenc ... More >>

Forecast in St. Paul: Radioactive rain

TopatoMaybe Blinky makes a guest appearance in the Mississippi this summer?​Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency say it's raining radiation in St. Paul as a result of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. The readings show elevated levels of radioactive iodine-131 i ... More >>

Got raw milk? State cracks down on sellers after four buyers get sick

​The Strib reports that four people got sick from unpasteurized milk tainted with E. coli and that the Mn Dept of Ag will likely crack down on illegal raw milk sales. State epidemiologist Richard Danilla and staff traced the milk that made three people sick to Hartmann dairy farm near Gibbon ... More >>

Keith Ellison introduces bill to ban Atrazine

​It's Earth Day, and Rep. Keith Ellison is taking note by announcing that he's introducing a House bill to ban a herbicide that's long been the target of environmentalists: Atrazine. The news comes ahead of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Scientific Advisory Panel meeting next week tha ... More >>

Earth Day Celebration

Ventura's conspiracy theorists come out of the woodwork

Our former governor's new television fans now that the truth is out there.

Mischke show notes: Nov. 2, 2009

Join the conversation with T.D. Mischke on today's 'In The Stream' live from 2 p.m.- 3:30 p.m.

The Deets plays guinea pig for the Google PowerMeter

Want to flip open your smart phone and see how much energy your drafty old home is sucking off the power grid while you're slaving away at work? There's an app for that.

Enviro foodie ethics: charcoal or gas?

Ever wonder whether charcoal or gas is worse for the environment? Wonder no more.

Worm compost bin produces great garden, clear conscience

One writer's tale of life as a "worm mother"

Consumed: Is our Consumer Culture Sustainable?

Waiting to Exhale

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency sees blue skies ahead. Or is that hot air?

Big Cow Factory on the Prairie

In Swift County, residents cry foul over a mega dairy and the state agency that can't say no

Don't Hold Your Breath

Who's responsible for bad air? Everyone and no one.

Let Them Eat Sludge Cake

A new plan for disposing of metro-area sewage has critics crying foul

From Minneapolis, With Love

Hennepin County wants to dump its incinerator ash in the metro's "environmental Bermuda triangle"

Friends of Al

Alumni of the Gore campaign money machine include an Energy Department staffer who turned the department's multibillion-dollar toxic-waste cleanup fund into a political pork barrel.

Clinton and the Cuban Fixer

Power Play: The Biggest Game in Town

The little-noted push to deregulate utilities will drive up rates and jeopardize service--not to mention

Garbage In, Garbage Out

The New Alaskan Oil Rush

Blowing Smoke: How the Buck is Passed on Air Quality

The Great Green Whistlestop Tour

Theme: "The Greatest Environmental President." Really?

Dioxin for Dinner

The Risky Business of Living

A Bridge Too Far?

Low Sierras: The Perils of Philanthropy

Strawberry Fields Forever

Clinton's Love Affair with a Deadly Gas

The Charade of the Visigoths

The Republicans' Secret Greenwash

The Shameless Seven Ride Again

Machine Nightmares