While the passion of the hunger strikers is evident, public policy should not be dictated by the threat of self-harm.
Letter sent to:
Marion Greene, Hennepin County Commissioner, District 3;
Soren Stevenson, Minneapolis City Council Member, Ward 8.
By Keith Shelbourn
Today, we are seeing a populist movement where emotion often overrides infrastructure reality, and unfortunately, too many politicians seem willing to follow that lead. Such is the case with the Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center (HERC).
A small group of protestors is demanding that the City and County expedite the closure of this facility. Yet HERC serves a vital function: it separates recyclable trash and incinerates the rest to generate steam. This heat warms downtown office buildings and Target Field, saving money and providing income to the City and County. This process also reduces the need to burn natural gas, which would otherwise increase CO2 and soot in our air.
I lived in the Near North neighborhood when HERC was built. At the time, I was proud that our local government was taking a proactive stance on waste management. Before HERC, our garbage was trucked to South Dakota at a high cost—both financially and in terms of diesel exhaust. When that state eventually stopped accepting our waste, we had to take responsibility for our own garbage right here.
The central location was chosen for efficiency. It was part of a larger vision for the Warehouse District, situated near new sports arenas, the bus depot, and the I-394 terminus. This allowed garbage trucks to dump their loads nearby, keeping diesel emissions to a minimum. It was a proactive, ecological dream that we should still be proud of.
While I initially wondered about the proximity to office towers, it is important to note that prevailing winds carry the stack exhaust away from the Near North neighborhood. Furthermore, HERC utilizes advanced scrubbers to reduce pollutants, and the surrounding office towers use sealed ventilation systems.
Today, some demonstrators are engaging in a hunger strike to demand HERC’s closure, claiming the air is unsafe. However, the data suggests that the greatest contributor to air pollution in the area is not HERC, but the heavy traffic on I-394 and I-94. If the concern is truly about lung health, the focus should be on urging Hennepin County to update HERC’s filtration systems to lower emissions even further—not throwing away a vital, expensive municipal plant.
If we are committed to being ecological, we should not impulsively tear down a large installation only to rebuild it elsewhere, which would simply move the pollution and restart the construction footprint. I am skeptical of claims that HERC is the primary health threat to residents when vehicle exhaust and soot from the interstate are far more prevalent.
While the passion of the hunger strikers is evident, public policy should not be dictated by the threat of self-harm. It is unwise for the City and County to allow a small group to coerce a major shift in municipal policy through such extreme tactics. Governance should be based on research and long-term planning, not the optics of a protest.
If HERC is closed, where will our garbage go? Shipping it to distant landfills would require more trucks on the road for longer periods, resulting in more diesel exhaust and more pollution.
Crucially, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) identifies landfilling as the least preferred method of waste management and the worst option for the environment. HERC is categorized as a “Waste-to-Energy” facility, which is ranked as a significantly more sustainable and less polluting option than landfills because it recovers energy and reduces waste volume. It is a contradiction to complain about air quality while demanding a solution that the state’s own experts consider environmentally inferior.
Furthermore, the economic impact cannot be ignored. Downtown offices and Target Field would have to scramble to install new heating and cooling systems at a massive cost. At a time when office towers are already struggling with vacancies, this additional financial risk could lead to more empty buildings and a lower tax base for the City.
We should be focusing our attention on updating the incinerator’s scrubbing systems to reduce what is already a low output of gas and soot. That is where the City’s and County’s energy should go—not toward appeasing a small group that has captured the attention of the cameras.
HERC was intended to be a model of municipal responsibility. We should prioritize informed, nuanced governance over political showmanship. Tearing down this facility would be a step backward for both our environment and our economy.
Keith Shelbourn, Minneapolis
HERC is a disaster and states like California and Oregon have banned incinerators because of their environmental affects. It’s also very likely a tax boondoggle but the County won’t reveal its financials (if history is any guide, we’ll only find out when it’s teetering). HERC was protested when it was built in the 1980s with people going to jail. The area was poor and disenfranchised. Today it still affects poorer neighborhoods even though one nearby neighborhood, North Loop, has has gentrified (remember that it was practically abandoned 40 years ago).
The dioxins and heavy metals HERC emits are as bad as lead and nothing the County says can be trusted, because this is the same organization and same commissioners that let HCMC collapse, forced idiotic light rail routes on us, make nonsensical comments about the sheriff, and attempted to give itself a 49% raise. So the county commissioners instead try to blame I-94, and promote removing the highway to distract us and stay in the good graces of the DSA, who is leading the effort to eliminate I-94.
If Marion Greene, Angela Conley, and Irene Fernando say something, you know it’s a lie. And they support HERC. That’s all I need to know that the protestors are right.
This article lays out the details others won’t: https://www.startribune.com/counterpoint-heres-whats-missing-in-the-debate-over-hennepin-countys-garbage-burner/601786494
Whether it is about the Roof Depot, resolutions on international affairs, obstructing and disrespecting Mayor Frey and our City staff, and especially OUR employees working in public safety, or HERC, these anti police, anti business groups are active in the community, and on our OWN City Council.
They are many of the SAME people who aggressively worked to delay getting the 3rd Precinct Police Station back into the 26 neighborhoods it served, ( any time soon) in the same way they obstructed movement on GFS…for years, as we endured one loud, accusatory, theatrical performance after another.
Mpls has been being HELD HOSTAGE and truly damaged by these SAME people…over and over. Absolutely nothing they do has anything to do with developing thoughtful, informed, and respectful public policy for Mpls and the Metro.
It is WAY past time that we put our collective foot down.