About the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA)

Since 1974, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has been protecting our water, air, land and people.

MCEA works with government agencies, the Legislature, and the courts to set sound environmental policy, to ensure good laws are enacted, and to enforce the law when needed. We are committed to working across all sectors – private and public, profit and nonprofit, political and academic – to form the partnerships needed to succeed. Real environmental issues are complex and real environmental progress takes time. MCEA is in it for the long haul.

 

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Scott's Blog

Recent Posts

  • Insurance industry getting behind carbon tax Posted 31 minutes ago
    Unlike some of its usual political bedfellows, the insurance industry has no choice but to deal with the actual facts on the ground.  And so the conservative insurance industry freely acknowledges the reality of climate change, works it into their calculations, and now is taking direct steps to combat it, including helping to build a conservative coalition favoring a carbon tax.  Welcome! Read more here.
  • What the law actually says on carbon pollution Posted 2 hours ago
    In recent weeks, there has been an echo chamber of comments from the electric utilities that the EPA does not have authority to regulate carbon pollution, only Congress does.  The fact is, however, that not only does the EPA have the authority, they have the legal responsibility under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon pollution from both new and existing sources.  This posting neatly summarizes what the law actually is.
  • It is not too late to act on climate change Posted last week
    One of the most common arguments made against progressive reform is "the futililty thesis," the fatalistic contention that nothing will work so there is no reason to try.  (By the way, I recommend Albert O. Hirschman's The Rhetoric of Reaction, which discusses the "perversity," "futility," and "jeopardy" arguments.  In fact, I'd recommend anything Hirschman ever wrote.)  In the climate change "debate," this comes up in the form of "it's too late, there is nothing we can do, therefore we should do nothing."  As Joe Romm points out in his blog, the New York Times has trotted out this argument more than once, but, as Romm explains, there is no scientific evidence to back that up.  All the science tells us that significant action soon can indeed mitigate most of the serious consequences of global climate change. The futility argument is seductive, because it seems so sophisticated, so "realistic."  It's usually wrong.
  • Level playing field, anyone? Posted last week
    Mark Gunther makes a compelling argument for eliminating all energy subsidies--for renewables, and also the much larger ones for oil and gas--and then imposing a carbon tax and tariff to address the genuine market failure in our energy economy. Read more here. A lot of work has been done recently that is critical of our reliance on tax credits to promote clean energy, often urging that Congress should instead be levelling the playing field by making certain kinds of corporate governance structures available to oil and gas also available for renewables.  Tax expenditures are notoriously inefficient ways to get anything to happen, yet they are often the one thing politicians feel they can support.

Recent News

Recent Posts

  • Help fight dirty coal! Posted 4 days ago
    MCEA needs your help to fight dirty coal. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will decide this month whether Minnesota Power should be required to study the environmental and human health impacts of a life-extension project for a 600 megawatt coal plant. MCEA believes this study should be required so that the PUC has good information about this project and the alternatives, including renewable energy options. Take a moment and tell the PUC that you support a thorough study of the environmental and human health impacts on Minnesota Power's proposal. The deadline for comments is Monday, May 20th, at 4:30pm. Submit comments via email to PublicComments.PUC@state.mn.us or via US mail to Burl Haar, Executive Secretary, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, 121 7th Place East, Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101. Read the notice of public comment period here.  Read the petition MCEA filed here. 
  • New Poll Finds Minnesota Power Customers Overwhelmingly Support Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency, Shift Away From Fossil Fuels in Minnesota Posted 2 weeks ago
    A new poll released today by Peak Campaigns shows that voters in the Minnesota Power service area overwhelmingly favor using clean, renewable energy sources to power the state. The poll comes out as Minnesota’s long-term energy plan – otherwise known as its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) – is under review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. As the utility plans the next 15 years of its energy mix, more than 8-in-10 voters agreed with the statement that “we need to fundamentally change the way we get our energy in Minnesota by modernizing the electric grid to maximize energy efficiency and wind and solar energy use.” The telephone poll reached 401 voters in the Minnesota Power service area between April 6 and 9, 2013. According to the poll, three-in-four voters agree that “Minnesota utilities should reduce our need for coal and other fossil fuels by increasing energy efficiency and using more clean, renewable energy.” Almost eight in ten voters (79 percent) support phasing out Minnesota’s oldest coal-burning power plants and replacing them with greater use of clean, renewable energy and energy ...
  • Hundreds rally for clean energy! Posted 2 weeks ago
    Hundreds rallied at the Minnesota state capitol to answer Governor Dayton’s call to build a sustainable energy future for our state in support of clean energy and good jobs! YEA! MN, a program of the Will Steger Foundation, organized the Young People's March for Climate Action to the rally. Watch the video from the rally!
  • Minnesotans Request Environmental Review of $350 Million Minnesota Power Coal Plant Proposal Posted 3 weeks ago
    Today, MCEA, on behalf of over 100 Minnesota citizens, filed a request for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet for Minnesota Power’s proposal to spend $350 million to continue operating one coal burning unit at its Boswell Energy Center – known as unit 4. Under Minnesota law, the environmental and human health impacts of major decisions such as this must be studied and the information must be provided to the public. “Continuing to burn coal at Boswell 4 will mean more air and water pollution in Minnesota for decades to come” said Kevin Reuther, Legal Director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “We are petitioning on behalf of Minnesota citizens today to ask for a study of the environmental and human health impacts of this $350 million investment before state agencies take action on the project. Minnesotans deserve to know the full environmental and public health impact of this project." Read the press release here, or read the full petition here.  

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