Comment period closing soon on proposed pipeline next to the Pipestone National Monument

Pipestone National Monument. Image: Carolschmidt333

Pipestone National Monument protects a sacred site to Indigenous people of many nations who have visited it for thousands of years to quarry the soft red stone for pipemaking. Indigenous people still quarry pipestone today. 

The Magellan Pipeline Company proposes “to relocate approximately 0.74 miles of an existing eight-inch petroleum pipeline from federal lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service to private property,” the Minnesota Department of Commerce says.

Several Native Nations oppose the project.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will accept public comments up to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Here’s how to submit comments.

City of Minneapolis now has police misconduct complaint results online; Rally against new police contract Friday

The City of Minneapolis website now includes a Police Discipline Decision Dashboard.

Partial list.

Cases include confirmed charges of: Failure to show courtesy and respect (use of foul language); failure to write an adequate report; code of ethics violations (such as off-duty drunk driving); failure to deescalate; and violation of reasonable force standards.

The final reports are available on line, though often with significant redactions. Disciplinary actions include: temporary demotion; permanent demotion; written reprimand; suspension; and dismissal.

Menominee Tribe sues tech firms for contributing to youth mental health crisis, and other news from Indian Country

In this post:

• Menominee Tribe sues Meta, Facebook, and other tech firms for creating addictive social media, contributing to a surge in Tribal youth’s anxiety, depression, and suicides
• A big win for the Salmon People
• Mashkikii-Boodawaaning’s (Medicine Fireplace’s) Inc. files race/creed discrimination case, triggered by its religious use of peyote

In an apparent sea change, MPCA steps up to enforce the ‘Wild Rice Rule’. U.S. Steel pushes back.

Issue heading to the Minnesota Court of Appeals

In 1973, Minnesota established the “Wild Rice Rule”, one of many sweeping environmental protection rules and laws passed that decade. The rule caps wild rice-killing pollution from industrial wastewater.

The rule affects taconite mines in particular.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is responsible for enforcing the Wild Rice Rule, but it hadn’t been.

That seems to be changing.

FBI had multiple informants infiltrate Standing Rock during DAPL protests, new records show

Alleen Brown, who broke multiple stories about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) resistance at Standing Rock, is at it again. According to an article in Grist:

Up to 10 informants managed by the FBI were embedded in anti-pipeline resistance camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation at the height of mass protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016. The new details about federal law enforcement surveillance of an Indigenous environmental movement were released as part of a legal fight between North Dakota and the federal government over who should pay for policing the pipeline fight. Until now, the existence of only one other federal informant in the camps had been confirmed. 

Alleen Brown

MPCA tries to hide its failure to identify Smith Foundry’s air pollution problems

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued a dishonest email Monday, saying Smith Foundry’s recent air pollution test results “verify” that the foundry “is not emitting more particulate matter than allowed by its permit.”

The air tests didn’t “verify” anything.

MPCA leaves East Phillips in the dark too long about Smith Foundry’s air pollution

And what residents don’t know can hurt them

Smith Foundry, looking east down E. 28th Street.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) have offered seemingly contradictory statements about whether the Smith Foundry in the East Phillips neighborhood is violating its air quality permits.

The EPA conducted an unannounced inspection of Smith Foundry in May of last year and found multiple violations, from releasing excess fine particle pollution to failing to keep required records.

That news became public Nov. 7. Two weeks later, MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler told the Star Tribune the agency had no evidence the foundry had violated its permits.

It’s been approximately three months since the disagreement between the EPA and the MPCA emerged. They still haven’t made a joint public statement to explain or resolve their differences.

The likely answer is that the EPA’s review was much more thorough than the MPCA’s review.

Minneapolis hypocrisy: Roof Depot case study — Part III: The city failed at compassion, racial equity

Urban Farm Rally at Little Earth.

Last in a three-part series. The Roof Depot redevelopment seems to be a settled issue, with the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) planning to acquire the old warehouse from the city and convert it into affordable housing, an indoor urban farm, and more.

Yet understanding why things got so contentious matters for the city’s future. It was much more contentious than it needed to be. This three-part series examines where the city went wrong and what needs to change.

Part I examined how the city failed its commitments to meaningful community engagement and partnership.

Part II examined how the city failed its commitment to transparency.

Part III examines how the city failed its commitments to compassion and ending racial disparities.

Mpls American Indian Center to reopen in May, Tension over fate of repatriated Wounded Knee Massacre artifacts, and more

In this post:

• Minneapolis American Indian Center renovation nears completion, May reopening expected
• Okizi (To Heal) Art Exhibit opens Feb. 1 in All My Relations Gallery
• Tension over fate of repatriated Wounded Knee Massacre artifacts
• Native Nations decline to serve on State of Oklahoma Task Force, which could undermine landmark U.S. Supreme Court McGirt decision

Tell MPCA: Add Dark Lake to Impaired Waters List; new Marvel mini-series stars Native actress, and more

In this post:

• Tell MPCA to protect wild rice on Dark Lake
• 50 days and counting: Can two regulators agree on what’s going on in East Phillips?
• Minneapolis’ solution to unhoused Native encampment? Keep it moving
• Marvel Studios mini-series ‘Echo’ stars Native actress Alaqua Cox