10 Things to Know about how to help protect Minnesota neighborhoods overburdened by pollution

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By Evan Mulholland, Healthy Communities Director 

The West Side is one of St. Paul's most vibrant communities, immigrant-rich, tight-knit, and fiercely committed to looking out for its residents. It's also a place where the air sometimes tells you where you are before the street signs do. 

The concentration of polluting industry in the area, along with the trucks, trains, barges, and vehicle traffic that serve it, can leave an odor hanging in the air. Nearby residents are also forced to contend with routine exposure to dust from trucks entering and exiting the unpaved transfer station and scrap yards. State public health data shows what community members already know: asthma hits harder there, leading to higher-than-average rates of asthma-related hospitalizations and ER visits, especially among children. It’s an example of what can happen when industry coexists with a residential neighborhood that is also home to many families, a church, and a school. 

St. Paul’s West Side is one of several communities across Minnesota overburdened by pollution from development decisions that have concentrated industry and vehicle traffic in certain areas. 

That’s why community members and organizations across the state, including the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, pushed for the historic passage of Minnesota’s first statewide cumulative impacts laws in 2023.

As the law now moves toward implementation, it’s at risk of weakening. Here’s what you need to know about the law and how you can take action now to help protect it. 

1. The Cumulative Impacts law is intended to help Minnesotans who live in communities historically overburdened by pollution by requiring the state to study and consider a neighborhood’s cumulative pollution levels as well as residents’ existing health stressors – such as asthma rates – before deciding whether to grant an air permit for new facilities trying to move in, or renew air permits for existing facilities. 
2. If a community’s cumulative pollution levels, plus existing health stressors, exceed a pre-determined threshold, the law is supposed to mandate the state to deny the permit or its renewal. The law allows an exception if the company applying for the permit reaches an agreement with the state that is intended to benefit the community, such as reducing pollution levels or investing in a tree-planting program. 
3. The law only applies to Minnesota’s seven-county metro area, Rochester, and Duluth.
4. The law is currently moving through the state’s implementation process, known as rulemaking. This is when state agencies develop the rules that govern how laws are applied in practice. Minnesotans have a chance to weigh in by submitting public comments during this process to ensure the rules protect the law’s intent. The public comment period closes July 17th.
5. The Frontline Communities Protection Coalition led the community effort behind the historic law’s passage, and is now leading the effort to ensure the public’s voice is heard during this next phase. MCEA is a proud member of the coalition and, as a legal organization, is helping draft a detailed comment with other coalition members aimed at safeguarding the law’s intent. 
6. The law’s pollution threshold is one of many important components that will be established during the ongoing rulemaking process. Rulemaking will also determine whether the law applies to new and existing facilities, as intended, or only new applicants. 
7. An initial draft of the rules governing the law limited its scope to new facilities. If allowed to stand, the change would significantly undermine the law's intent, as most of the affected neighborhoods are already built out, and the only way to reduce pollution there is to hold existing facilities accountable as well. 
8. Take action now and submit a comment to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency instructing the agency to ensure the law’s rules include a meaningful pollution threshold and apply to both new and existing air permits. Click here for talking points you can adapt and use for your own comment. After reviewing the public’s comments, the agency will publish the final rules sometime this fall. 
9. Minnesota is one of only a small handful of states trying to use the law to alleviate pollution in overburdened communities. New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts also have cumulative impact laws in various stages of implementation. 
10. MCEA will be closely following this rulemaking. Stay tuned for developments by signing up for our newsletter or by subscribing to FCPC’s Cumulative Impacts updates list.

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