Action Alerts
Key Issues
Let's pass guardrails for data centers in Minnesota
If every proposed data center proposed for Minnesota gets built, they will use more electricity than every household in the state combined.
That could throw a significant wrench into our efforts to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2040 as required by Minnesota law, as well as our efforts to decarbonize sectors like transportation and housing using electricity.
An industry as disruptive as data centers should be carefully regulated. But hyper-scale data centers are a new frontier. Minnesota does not have the protections or review requirements we need to fully vet these projects.
The Minnesota Legislature has a chance to fix that. Right now, they’re hearing bills that would set up new regulations for large data centers, require stronger permits, and prohibit local governments from signing nondisclosure agreements that hide information about the proposals from the public. Though it faces an uphill battle, we also support legislation to put a two-year moratorium on new large data centers (like the state of Maine just enacted) so that these guardrails can be put in place.
But we need your voice. The Legislature will adjourn in a little over a month, and we need to keep these data center bills moving forward.
Please take two minutes to use our action system to contact your lawmakers, asking them to support new protections and permit structures for data centers. We have one chance to get this right. Let’s make sure Minnesota doesn’t regret leaving the door wide open for Big Tech’s big projects.
Let's make sure cleaner jet fuel means cleaner water
Right now, Minnesota stands on the cutting edge of a major development for climate and clean water: sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. Major airline companies are working to cut their climate emissions by moving away from petroleum-based fuels and toward fuels grown on farmland - of which Minnesota has plenty - and using clean energy.
SAF could be a tremendous win for clean water if done right, but it could be a huge negative if done wrong. We need to make sure that it focuses on truly sustainable tools, not greenwashing.
We need Minnesotans who care about clean water and climate to take action today.
The Minnesota Legislature is considering adding environmental guardrails to state tax credits for SAF. These include:
- Linking the tax credit amount to the climate-friendliness of the SAF source.
- Requiring crops used to make SAF to be grown in the US and on existing farmland so that habitats like the Amazon rainforest and Minnesota’s remaining prairies are not destroyed.
- Prohibiting carbon emissions captured during the fuel-making process to be used to extract more fossil fuels (enhanced oil recovery).
- Allowing the SAF tax credit to be used for green hydrogen (hydrogen recovered using clean energy) when that technology is ready.
There’s not much time left in the Legislative session, and getting this tax credit done is a bipartisan priority. We need to make sure these guardrails become law.
Please take two minutes to contact your Legislators and ask them to make sure that the SAF tax credit supports solutions that are legitimately sustainable. Lowering airplane emissions is a great opportunity for Minnesota to lead, but we have to get it right on the front end.
Our Issues
Act now to stop rollbacks to Minnesota's forever chemicals law
Minnesota is a nation-leading state for protecting our water and people from PFAS, a notorious class of “forever chemicals” that don’t break down in the environment and which contribute to cancer, pregnancy complications, and other health threats. We’re proud that we passed Amara’s Law - named for a cancer victim and advocate - to start phasing out these dangerous chemicals.
But that law is under an 11th-hour attack this Legislative session. Legislative leaders have made a deal to delay a crucial part of the rollout of this law by a year.
If it passes, it will give industries that use PFAS an extra year before they have to report PFAS use in their products, which include personal care items. It will leave Minnesotans unknowingly exposed to those toxic chemicals. More PFAS will enter the environment and our bodies, never to break down naturally, poisoning us from the inside.
We need to stop this bad deal. Amara’s Law should not be weakened, and if the law is watered down this year, big companies will be emboldened to push for more carve-outs and loopholes next year.
The Legislative session ends by Sunday night, so your voice is needed as soon as possible.
Please take two minutes to contact your state legislators and ask them to reject any delay in Amara’s Law. Let them know that our health should not be on the chopping block in any end-of-session deal. Feel free to customize our sample message with your personal story.
Urge our Legislators to pass Important Environmental Funding
As Minnesotans, we know our waters, wilderness and outdoors provide more than recreation and economic growth: it's where we are at home. No matter your politics, our natural environment takes care of each of us. It is up to us to protect our lakes, forests, plains, and to protect these natural gifts for the next generations.
We urge you to take a moment to remind our Minnesota legislators to prioritize these natural spaces by passing the full Outdoor Heritage Fund funding package. This important environmental funding bill is stalled in the Minnesota legislature, despite broad support, and they need to hear of your support now.
If you support investing in our Great Outdoors, now is the time to stand up by encouraging the Minnesota legislature and Governor Walz to pass this important environmental funding bill, to invest in and protect what’s most important to us: our home.
Speak up to stop public transit cuts
In the midst of an oil crisis - not to mention an ongoing climate crisis - cutting public transit is the last thing Minnesota leaders should want to do. Transit helps thousands of Minnesotans get around affordably without driving. By replacing car trips, it reduces climate pollution, promotes cleaner air, and reduces traffic. With gas prices high and rising, it’s one of our best affordability tools.
Unfortunately, the Walz Administration has proposed to cut funding for Metro Transit - the largest public transportation system in Minnesota - by $41.7 million.
If this funding cut goes forward, it will mean reduced bus and rail service. That would make life harder for anyone who needs to get around without a car, and discourage those who would like to use transit from doing so. That means more car trips, more air and climate pollution, and more wear and tear on the roads.
The good news is, it’s not too late to protect Metro Transit.
The Legislature will soon negotiate the final bills of this year’s session with the Governor, and they need to hear how important it is to maintain transit funding.
Please take two minutes to use our action system to contact your legislators and ask them to maintain full funding for public transit. Feel free to edit our sample message to share your personal transportation story!
Help stop battery fires across Minnesota
Most people are familiar with the phrase “dumpster fire,” but did you know that literal dumpster fires are on the rise? The culprit is rechargeable batteries, which don’t belong in the trash because they catch fire so easily, putting residents and sanitation workers at risk.
The good news is, Minnesota has a bill to fix this problem, and we need your help to get it passed.
A bipartisan bill at the Legislature, HF 1426/SF1690, would establish a modern system funded by electronics producers that would make sure batteries are properly recycled. It would fund safe recycling sites across the state, ensuring that all Minnesotans can recycle used batteries for free.
If it passes, it will mean fewer fires, lower expenses for local governments, economic benefits from recycling rare metals like lithium, and less toxic pollution in landfills.
This bill has support on both sides of the aisle, but we need to make sure it crosses the finish line!
Please take two minutes and use our action system to contact your Legislators in support of this bill. Ask them to put Minnesotans’s health, safety, and environment first and help us solve the battery challenge.
Stop rollbacks to Amara's Law
Minnesota has a big problem with toxic Forever Chemicals, but we’re also leading the way to solve it.
Three years ago, the state passed Amara’s Law, the nation’s strongest ban on cancer-causing PFAS chemicals. But right now, powerful industry groups are trying to weaken Amara’s Law.
Minnesota passed this law because we are no stranger to the devastating impacts of PFAS. From Stillwater to Bemidji to Alexandria, we’ve seen groundwater contamination threaten our health. Once these chemicals end up in the environment, they don’t break down naturally. Once they’re in our bodies, they don’t leave. The only solution is a phase out.
Certain industry interests don’t like that Amara’s Law prevents them from selling PFAS-containing cookware, pharmaceuticals, and other products in Minnesota. They’re pressuring Minnesota legislators to chip away at the law’s protections to let in more PFAS.
If we start watering down this law, we’ll kick the PFAS can down the road. We’ll see more cancers. We’ll watch our waters become more polluted.
The time to act is now.
Please take two minutes to use our action system to tell your legislators to oppose any rollbacks to Amara’s Law. Feel free to change our sample message to include your personal story about clean water or forever chemicals.
