Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) is a team of legal and policy experts fighting to protect Minnesota’s environment, its natural resources, and the health of its people. MCEA believes in holding polluters accountable, and works in the courts, at the legislature, and with public agencies to enact, strengthen, and enforce smart environmental laws. 

MCEA is working to transition Minnesota’s electric sector away from aging coal plants and towards clean and renewable energy, to support clean transportation technologies, to prevent dangerous sulfide mining practices, and to defend Minnesota’s water resources. It aims to promote clean air and water, to correct environmental injustices, and to support a stable, safe climate. 

In 2020 alone, MCEA has won three major victories against project proposals that would increase Minnesota’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3%. These wins include: a win against Daley Farms in court, which put the brakes on greenhouse gas emissions from a large industrial feedlot and established new requirements that the MPCA must consider greenhouse gas emissions in environmental review for all projects; a successful appeal of the authorization of a new fracked gas plant in the Twin Ports, the Nemadji Trail Energy Center; and challenges to every permit for the PolyMet mine proposal, which would rely heavily on coal and cause significant air and water pollution. These wins, and more, are all part of MCEA’s venture for bold action and a coordinated approach to find climate solutions and make Minnesota a safer and healthier place to live for everyone.