May 18, 1998 - [for use IF KOCH SIGNS for ATC tonight at 5:20. I will write alternate version for use if Koch does NOT sign by 5:20.] The Koch Refining Company and officials of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have worked out final details of a 6.9 million dollar out-of-court- settlement. The agreement signed today requires Koch to begin agressive clean up of groundwater contamination at its Rosemount refinery south of the Twin Cities...but it comes years after the spills and leaks were first reported. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. HOST OUTCUE The signing of the new cleanup agreement removes one barrier to a new air
May 15, 1998 - It's an old argument with a new twist. Which is more important: economics or the environment? Some people criticize the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for favoring economic development, and ignoring the potential for environmental damage. In the final part of our series on problems at the MPCA, Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure looks at charges that long term changes in the agency's philosophy are responsible for the growing list of environmental problems on its watch. 51:12 train. Birds etc.
May 14, 1998 - The Superior National Forest has identified stands of timber worthy of being set aside as forest preserves. Now the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which owns land within the national forest, may begin timbersales and road building in the midst of one of the most highly valued stands. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. The Superior National Forest survey lists relatively undistubed timber stands within its boundaries and ranked them as potential preserves. A 28 square mile area known as "Big Lake Seven Beavers" was high on the list. The survey notes that"the size, diversity, and lack of disturb
April 7, 1998 - MPR's Mary Losure talked to kids at an afterschool daycare program for a child's eye view of the severe storm and tornado that hit St. Peter, Minnesota.
April 6, 1998 - The mayor who led Grand Forks through last years flooding offered sympathy and encouragement to tornado victims in St. Peter Sunday. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. and vividly described the disaster that struck HER community almost year ago, when the dikes protecting GRand Forks began to give way.
April 3, 1998 - Koch Refining Company will pay a 6.9 million dollar fine for environmental violations at its oil refinery just south of Saint Paul. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Most of the penalty against Koch is for improper handling of the refinery's contaminated wastewater. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commisioner Peder Larson says the water was supposed to be piped to the refinery's treatment plant.
March 30, 1998 - Hennepin County, once looked to as a national leader in how it handles its trash, is starting to fall behind. The county's waste-to-energy incinerator is burning all it can .....and as the amount of garbage continues to climb, more and more is ending up in landfills. State law and the federal Environmental Protection agency regard landfills as the most environmentally harmful way of disposing of garbage. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. --------------------------------------------------------- | D-CART ITEM: 9608 | TIME: 6:07 | OUTCUE: "...soc --------------------------------------------------------- It's a fact of life in the garbage business---- when times are good, people buy more stuff...which means they throw out more trash. Bruce Wuolle
February 19, 1998 - In Bloomington today officials signed a pioneering program to clean up the Minnesota River. It will pay farmers to set aside as much as 190 thousand acres, nearly 300 square miles, of river bottom farmland. The green buffer strip will reduce the amount of sediment and farm chemical runoff polluting one of the nation's dirtiest rivers. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
February 16, 1998 - A bill to spend a half million dollars for more research on Minnesota's deformed frogs is before the state legislature. The money would allow scientists to continue long-running field studies, as well as expand the investigation. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
February 12, 1998 - For more than a year, Minnesota environmentalists and the timber industry have been fighting over a small stand of pines in the Superior National Forest. The Little Alfie stand, as it's known, is only 100 acres---about the size of the state fairgrounds---but it represents much larger issues. Loggers in northern Minnesota worry Little Alfie is just the first attempt to make many of the state's off limits to logging, in the same way old growth trees in the west were protected to save the spotted owl. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.