Scientists and Clinicians Back Zero Burn Coalition's Case to Close HERC by 2027 as Hunger Strike Continues
At a panel at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on April 16, clinicians, scientists and Zero Burn Coalition members argued that HERC's 30-year-old permit is based on outdated science that was never designed to protect the public, as four hunger strikers continue demanding a Hennepin County commissioner vote to close the facility by December 2027.
Clinicians, scientists and members of the Zero Burn Coalition argued that the garbage burner known as the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center should close by December 2027 at a panel at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on April 16. Four people have been on hunger strike to force the Hennepin County commissioners to take a vote on closing the HERC.
Supporters of keeping the HERC open often point to permit compliance. The county says HERC’s air emissions over a 10-year period from 2016 to 2025 were on average 80 percent below permitted levels from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Doug Gurian-Sherman, a risk assessment scientist and former EPA official, has long criticized the permit argument. “The permit is what the state says protects us,” Gurian-Sherman said. “In other words, they say that if you fulfill the permit, all of these pollutants, whatever comes out of the HERC smokestack, is at low enough levels that it’s not going to hurt anybody, or the harm is going to be so low it’s basically, you know, you don’t have to worry about it.”
David McNary, assistant director of the Hennepin County Environment and Energy department, said the HERC is “highly regulated” and “well below” permit levels. Jenni Langsing, senior environmental project manager for Minneapolis, said that closing the HERC “will not impact overall cancer and non-cancer” outcomes because emissions are significantly below the state’s permits.
The HERC emits a range of toxins, including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and dioxins, that are linked to respiratory illnesses like asthma and cardiovascular disease.
But Gurian-Sherman said that standard is outdated. “The permit that the county touts as being so protective of us is like 30 years old from old outdated science, and it was never based on protecting the public,” Gurian-Sherman said. “The Clean Air Act has different provisions, and the provision that was used for those permits initially was just based on what pollution control equipment is out there and available.”
In 1995, the EPA established emission limits for nine key pollutants. The agency last updated these to stricter standards in 2006. In 2024, the EPA under President Joe Biden proposed an overhaul that would slash the standards from nearly two decades earlier, aiming to cut 14,000 tons of toxic emissions every year.
In a PowerPoint slide showing the proposed limits, Gurian-Sherman said that hydrogen chloride would have exceeded the new safety limits. “You can see, like on the left, hydrochloric hydrogen chloride,” Gurian-Sherman said. “It would exceed that permit, so not safe.”
The former EPA scientist said that nitrogen oxides, often linked to asthma and heart disease, would be emitted at levels “almost double what it should be” under the Biden-era proposal.
But the EPA under President Donald Trump finalized a watered-down version of the rule, limiting the standards to only 3,269 tons of pollution per year. This left the HERC and other waste incinerators with significantly more breathing room than what would have been allowed.
Former state Rep. Hunter Cantrell works at a North Side clinic almost two miles from the HERC. The 55411 ZIP code in Minneapolis has recorded some of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the seven-county metro area.
“We see significant rates of asthma exacerbations among particularly children, but we also see asthma and COPD exacerbations among our elderly patients as well,” Cantrell said.
Figures from the Minnesota Department of Health show that asthma-related emergency room visits in that ZIP code reach up to 43 per 10,000 residents, almost six times higher than the state average. Members of the Zero Burn Coalition said that this is the direct result of the HERC.
Peter Raynor, a School of Public Health professor at the University of Minnesota, told the Minnesota Daily in 2024 that the HERC’s emissions are a valid concern. But he argues that pollutants from the trash burner are a contributor to worsening health conditions rather than the primary cause.
“The concentrations we see are unlikely to, by themselves, cause asthma or cause cancer, but it could worsen other conditions, like if people have underlying cardiovascular disease, heart disease or other respiratory problems,” Raynor told the Minnesota Daily.
Cantrell said the majority of his asthma patients are the same people displaced by Interstate 94, which sits above the HERC. “The vast majority of the children who I see in clinic with asthma exacerbations who live kind of in the surrounding areas are children who are people of color,” Cantrell said. “I think that’s why I think this is such a racial justice issue, fundamentally an environmental justice issue. I think racial justice and environmental justice are inherently intertwined, because this wouldn’t be, there’s a reason why the HERC isn’t in the most affluent communities or the least diverse communities in and around Hennepin County.”
Many in the coalition find it hard to imagine the HERC burning trash anywhere outside the majority Black neighborhoods in North Minneapolis. They plan to meet at the Hennepin County Government Service Center at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, to pack the Hennepin County Board meeting. Their public comment period is not publicly broadcast.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@spokesman-recorder.com.