insideclimatenews.org
Minneapolis Activists Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Polluting Trash Incinerator
Minneapolis activists are escalating a decades-long fight by going on a hunger strike to demand that local officials shut down a polluting trash incinerator. Residents have long opposed the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, which burns waste to generate energy, for adding to toxic air pollution in a predominantly Black community with high rates of asthma. Local activists who began their strike on Friday say they won’t eat until owner Hennepin County takes concrete steps toward shuttering the facility. “This is part of the climate emergency,” said Nazir Khan, co-founder of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table and one of three who began hunger-striking on Friday. “Waste is literally killing our neighbors.” On Friday morning, Khan and other environmental justice advocates with the Zero Burn Coalition held a rally at a building near Minneapolis City Hall and delivered a letter to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners with their demands: Hold a public vote to close the trash burner, set a closure date and establish a community-led task force to advance zero-waste alternatives. The area surrounding HERC, also bisected by Interstate 94, has some of the state’s highest rates of emergency room visits for asthma. In 2022, researchers used a U.S. Environmental...
![Zero Burn Coalition graphic with a red background, headed by The Guardian masthead and the article title "US garbage incinerators are failing to eliminate 'forever chemical' air pollution, experts warn." Three white quote blocks follow.
First: The report "deceives the public into thinking [incineration] is safe," said Nazir Khan, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table. "This trash becomes the problem of the poor and marginalized to deal with in their bodies," he added.
Second: "I'm not aware of any industrial-scale commercial incinerator that solves this problem," said Michael Youhana, an attorney with the non-profit Earthjustice, who has litigated on other incinerator issues.
Third: The MRRA report was developed in response to state regulators' request for information on their Pfas emissions. The authors wrote their findings suggest "little or no inhalation health risks are associated with the emitted six Pfas compounds" that are regulated in Minnesota. But opponents say people are exposed to more than just the six regulated compounds, and the report's findings appear designed to head off new regulations. Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a former DuPont Pfas scientist who now consults on incineration issues, characterized the MRRA report as a "pretty poor study." She added, "I don't know how they can say '99% reduction,' because there is too much missing data to make that claim."
The Zero Burn Coalition logo is in the bottom left and "#FREEDOM TO BREATHE" runs across the bottom right.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:3wramuwk7ns6bftbp35rn54v/bafkreigfe2txjjli5ubocxtbcoril72roib5eva7j3gqcqw2b4wqc7ezwi)
