Minnesota officials surveilled activists urging closure of waste incinerator, emails show
Summary
Emails obtained through a public records request appear to show Hennepin County employees gathering information about activists seeking to close Minneapolis’s Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). Advocacy groups say officials shared some information with industry and used it to counter campaigns; the county says the claims mischaracterize its community engagement work.Key Facts
- The Zero Burn Coalition, Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, and other groups obtained emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and published some in a report.
- The report alleges that county employees collected information about activists, developed reports on environmental justice leaders, and tried to learn a whistleblower’s identity.
- The emails show information being shared among county environmental officials, and the report says some information was sent to industry, including the incinerator’s owner.
- Joe Vital, Hennepin County’s environmental engagement coordinator, was hired in 2021 and is identified in the report as central to the alleged information-gathering effort.
- The report says Vital attended a June 2023 activist meeting about closing HERC and prepared a dossier.
- HERC in north Minneapolis incinerates about 365,000 tons of trash each year.
- The article says waste incinerators can release PFAS, chemicals that are not fully destroyed during incineration, as well as other pollutants.
- Hennepin County said its staff attend public meetings and use social media to listen, share information, and understand differing views.
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