365,000 Tons: Minnesota County Staff Monitored Activists Targeting Major Incinerator

Hennepin County staff members monitored environmental justice activists campaigning to close a waste incinerator in Minneapolis, according to newly released emails. Advocacy groups allege that the county used these efforts to anticipate protests and defeat state legislation opposed by the facility's operators. The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center burns 365,000 tons of trash annually and is located in low-income neighborhoods that bear the brunt of its pollution.

The Zero Burn Coalition, the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, and other local leaders obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. They published a report detailing how the county sent an employee to gather intelligence on public meetings. The emails indicate that this information was used to help stop state-level environmental bills and to prepare for activist campaigns.

Much of the operation centered on Joe Vital, whom environmental justice circles had viewed as an ally. Vital served as the county's environmental engagement coordinator after being hired in 2021. He previously chaired the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Native Peoples Caucus and worked with the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table on the Line 3 pipeline. The emails show that he attended a public Zoom meeting in June 2023 to plan next steps, despite organizers screening for industry and political opponents.

Angie Timmons, a manager in the county environmental department, identified the meeting to Vital. He then compiled a dossier listing participants, including a sitting state representative and a former city council member, along with their planned activities. Nazir Khan, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, stated that Vital went unnoticed during the screening process. Khan noted that organizers would have recognized his name if it had been displayed.

The dossier was sent to Rosemary Lavin, the county's energy and environment department director. Supervisors planned to meet and report their findings to Lisa Cerney, a top public works official who reports directly to political leadership. Cerney later made public statements in support of the incinerator. A recording also captures Vital attempting to confirm the identity of a whistleblower during a conversation with Khan.

Vital did not respond to requests for comment. When activists confronted him, Khan said Vital claimed he was working for the group while gathering intelligence on county officials. Vital described the arrangement by saying, "You have to offer a pound of flesh to maintain inside the room." Khan stated that Vital provided little value and that advocates do not believe he is on their side.

Information from the monitoring efforts also reached industry leaders. David McNary, a county official who sits on the board of the Minnesota Resource Recovery Association, forwarded organizing emails in March 2024. County employee Mallory Anderson had joined the advocates' email list without their knowledge and sent the messages to McNary on March 12. McNary expressed fear that a community-backed bill to phase out polluting land uses could affect incinerators and other industrial facilities. He sent the emails to an industry attorney and Tim Steinbeck, president of the incinerator operator.

Steinbeck replied that the bill would be "detrimental" and urged representatives to testify against it. The bill was defeated the following day. At a board meeting this week, Minneapolis organizer Audua Pugh asked county leaders why public resources were used to watch residents organizing to shut down the facility. Pugh noted that the aging trash burner should have closed nearly a decade ago.

Hennepin County said in a statement that the allegations mischaracterize its community engagement work. The county stated that officials routinely attend public meetings and engage on social media to understand different perspectives. A spokesperson described the actions as ordinary functions of government and added that working together does not mean agreement on every issue. The county has 9,000 employees and relies on community members to build relationships and pass information up the chain, according to Khan.

Incinerators face growing scrutiny because they release high levels of PFAS, known as forever chemicals, which cannot be fully destroyed by burning. Nearly 100 municipal or hazardous waste incinerators operate across the United States, with seven located in Minnesota. Similar fights over polluting facilities are currently under way in cities such as Baltimore and Miami.