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A new incinerator is being planned to burn sewage across the river from the West Side.  The Star Tribune reports: “So far, neighborhood groups are not formally opposing the expansion but many are asking questions about fairness and environmental justice. ‘There is concern,’ said Monica Bravo, executive director of the West Side Community Organization, the neighborhood group located on the opposite bank of the river. ‘The West Side already disproportionately shoulders the environmental harms of the city. We have several toxic sites. Anything new that is coming is going to put people on high alert.’ West Side neighborhood leaders are partnering with the Sierra Club to prepare for an upcoming public comment period.” 

• Visit the Met Council's website with information about the wastewater plant.
• Check out a fact sheet from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
• The Minnesota Pollution Control agency is reviewing the permit requests, environmental assessments, and preparing for public comment periods. Learn more about this process on their website.

Take action:

So far, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency joined us at our April West Side Voices Forum, to answer community questions, and we have held two community workshops in partnership with the Sierra Club to learn about the incinerator and how to take action.

Learn how to submit a public comment and share your opinion about how this may impact you and your neighborhood. Contact WSCO Health & Environmental Justice Organizer Ellie Leonardsmith at [email protected]

Community reflections:

It’s really important for the community to know what’s coming around in our neighborhood. The incinerator is possibly going to be built near Pig’s Eye Lake. So it could impact the West Side from an environmental justice and health perspective. I urge the community to come out, learn as much as you can about this, and make your voice heard.” – Kareem Smith, West Side resident

 

 

 

 

“My name is Krystle, I’m on the North Side of St. Paul, but I am here today to listen and to fight alongside and for anything that’s happening on the West Side because we are a community and the only way we’re going to get through any of these fights and win is helping each other out, staying connected. I’m so inspired by and happy to participate any way I can in the movement that’s happening on the West Side. As someone who’s on an incinerator fight over in Minneapolis, one thing I learned today was about the process of community engagement that seems to persist from the people trying to put in the toxic facility, and the way that that continues to fall short. We have to fight back and be properly engaged.”

 

 

 

 

Se está planificando un nuevo incinerador para quemar las aguas residuales al otro lado del río del West Side. La Agencia de Control de la Contaminación de Minnesota estará en nuestra reunión vecinal del 12 de abril, "Voces del West Side", para responder a sus preguntas. Nuestro equipo de Salud y Justicia Ambiental está revisando los planes y analizando los posibles impactos para nuestro barrio.

Obtenga más información sobre el proyecto del incinerador en la página del Met Council (en inglés).

Revisa una hoja informativa de La Agencia de Control de la Contaminación de Minnesota (en inglés).