Secrets of the City

It seems a little early, and perhaps a little cruel, but St. Paul residents Mike and Ann Holland have donated a 50-year-old spruce to the city for the holidays. In fact, the city has already chopped down the tree and moved it to Rice Park, where it’s being held up by 78,000 pounds of concrete. A sad demise, perhaps, for a half-a-century-old tree; but what would we do without our holiday decadence — lights (20,000 LEDs in this one), dead trees, and all?

What do our green people have to say about this? Is the solution plastic in this case? Why not decorate living trees? Why not plant a holiday spruce in Rice Park, and save on death and cement?

I guess the country is in survival mode for now (clearly not the survival of trees), but with the 2010 Living Green Expo canceled, who’s looking out for the environment?

Both the Star Tribune and Jason’s Station do stories on yesterday’s grand opening of Ever Cat, the new biodiesel plant in Isanti, MN. This new facility uses a technology developed here in Minnesota that promises that it can make biodiesel out of just about anything, with little waste. One Strib blogger who toured the plant wonders if this is the real deal. What do you think?

As the Political Animal blog points out, Politifact has given Tim Pawlenty a rating of “Full Flop” on the Cap and Trade issue: Back in 2007, Pawlenty was positioning himself as an environmental leader, pushing for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gases and a regional cap-and-trade plan.
 
Fast-forward to 2009, and he’s writing letters to Washington calling a Democratic plan to curb climate change, “overly bureaucratic, misguided” and “very burdensome on our economy.”

From the Star Tribune: More than two dozen leading scientists, including two from the University of Minnesota, issued a warning Wednesday that human pressures on the planet are pushing its food, water and environmental systems to the breaking point.

The University of Minnesota has entered the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition for the first time with this nifty little solar home. Jason’s Station has been on this for awhile. If the idea of solar power in the North Star State sounds odd, consider that we have are roughly on the same latitude as Germany, the world’s leader in solar power. 

The New York Times and the local papers have taken note of a controversial new petroleum pipeline from the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada to a refinery in Superior, Wisc. that produces gasoline and other petroleum products for the upper Midwest. The pipeline project didn’t earn many friends near Bemidji, where a section of US Highway 2 collapsed as a tunnel for the pipeline was being dug earlier this month. We have talked about biofuels and other alternative energy sources often. Isn’t it about time we took a closer look where our gasoline and diesel fuel comes from, and what its environmental impact is?

So, you are a utility that wants to generate more electrical power for your Minnesota customers, but you don’t want to deal with all those pesky laws designed to protect the environment and reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants Minnesota has adopted. The solution is simple — just build (expand, actually) a plant in nearby South Dakota. The controversial Big Stone II plant now has a green light to move forward. Have you even heard about this before, MNspeakers? Do you care?

It’s just a little story from the AP, but it caught my eye: The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have invested in a new type of wind turbine called the Windspire. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is also investing in energy with its new Koda Energy LCC plant in Shakopee and they also sell alternative fuel at their convenience stores near Mystic Lake.

Nice to see the original residents are still looking out for Ina Maka, or Mother Earth (Lakota)

via MinnPost: [L]ately a small but growing band of restoration advocates see that two key events — the prospective closing of the Upper Harbor Terminal in Minneapolis and impending shutdown of the Ford Plant in St. Paul — are giving hope that the rapids may one day roar again.

A white-water run has been proposed before; IIRC, around St. Anthony Falls. Nothing came of that but maybe something will come of this? I’m not a hard-core kayak enthusiast — just someone who enjoys the occassional, mellow kayaking jaunt — but I would definitely enjoy trying my luck with some white-water river kayaking.

I’m not sure if anyone has heard this radio ad yet. It is an ad by the Aquacide company, which makes herbicide pellets designed for aquatic use. Simply stated, the ad is terrible, with such tag lines as “lake weeds serve absolutley no purpose, for mankind Or the planet”,and “Aquacide…kinda rhymes with homicde, huh?”, as well as “Even a peace activist will love using aquacide”…. The ad portrays lake vegetation as serving no purpose–any anglers or ecology-minded folks know this is simply untrue. Folks at the MN fishing blog agree. 

The main thing is though, is that the ad does not even mention state regulations about using aquatic herbicides, making it sound like someone can order the product and use it without caution or the need for a permit. MN DNR clearly states that there are  some regulations required for using products like these. The ad is sort of irresponsible, and if users of the product are fined by the DNR, perhaps the company will catch a lawsuit. (More inside)