MINNEAPOLIS — A coalition of environmentalists and north Minneapolis advocates are calling on Hennepin County to close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, known as the HERC, as early as 2025. They say it's imperative to reduce health impacts of the trash-to-energy plant located next to Target Field.
The HERC Zero Burn Coalition has formulated a 93-page plan for shrinking the county's waste stream in such a way that the trash incinerator would no longer be necessary.
"Our plan is to really about building the movement we need. We need to treat this emergency like the emergency that it is," Nazir Khan, co-founder of the MN Environmental Justice Table, told reporters at a press conference at the Urban League.
"We have come together not just to shut down a trash burner in a sacrificed community, but we have to address how waste is making our precious home community unlivable."
The Hennepin County Board has committed to closing the garbage-burning power plant at some point between 2028 and 2040, depending on how quickly the county can transition into a zero-waste system.
The board recently received a detailed briefing laying out 22 steps the county will need to take in order to shut down the plant and transition to new methods of reducing the waste stream. At least 12 of those steps are policy changes that would require action from the Minnesota Legislature.
"We will track progress with the recently established legislative checklist and zero-waste dashboard, the county has defined as the metrics necessary to meet to close HERC responsibly," Lisa Cerney, Assistant County Administrator for Public Works, said in a statement released to KARE.
"We are excited about what we can accomplish together."
But opponents say that timeline is unacceptable because of the pollution health impacts that will continue.
"Zip code 55411, where I live right here, has the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the state, according to the Minnesota Department of Health," Stephani Maari Booker, a North Side resident and author, remarked.
"Hennepin County's own zero waste plan admits there are 'impacts' on my community from the trash burner."
The county staff cites the fact that the HERC's pollution emissions are all far below the maximum levels set in the plant's permit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. They also note that industrial sites holding MPCA permits account for only three percent of the air pollution in Hennepin County, while 72 percent comes from vehicles.
Maari Booker acknowledged emissions from the trash burner are in addition to those from traffic on nearby I-94 and Minn. Highway 55, but she asserts all of the sources of pollution have a cumulative effect on area residents.
The Zero Burn Coalition includes Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, an organization of physicians and other healthcare professionals that advocates for removing the health risks posed by air pollution and climate change.
The coalition contends county leaders have a responsibility to remove any sources they can identify and control, especially those that have an disproportionate impact on persons of color living in lower income neighborhoods.
"You have a place with too much pollution that's actually killing people — you've got the highways, you've got the GAF shingle factory, you've got the HERC," Evan Mulholland of the MN Center for Environmental Advocacy told reporters.
"Let's shut the HERC. Let's start fixing it! Let's shut the HERC as soon as possible. That's the answer. That's the problem of cumulative impact, and that's the answer."
Roughly 27% of all waste generated in the county is burned at the HERC. The county board wants a plan in place to divert that waste before they close the plant.
But the HERC Zero Burn Coalition contends closing the plant in 2025 would create urgency around the waste issue and force the county to enact major waste reforms.
Khan conceded there would probably be more trash going to landfills initially while the zero-waste plan is being implemented.
"It's still much better to shut down an incinerator, even if you have to truck it hundreds of miles, which we don't think we're going to have to do."
Rep. Frank Hornstein, a Minneapolis Democrat, said the legislature has taken steps to incentivize local governments to reduce their waste streams. He anticipates more action in the coming session along those lines.
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