Climate change, industry, parks, air and water quality are issues that are debated in congress, compete for funding and enpassion many Minnesotans.
November 4, 1974 - Dr. Hank Pittman of the Atomic Energy Commission, says plutonian must be kept for hundreds of thousands of years before it becomes nonharmful to humans. How to dispose of such nuclear waste presents great challenges. Pittman recommends storing waste in deep geological salt formations. Carlsbad, New Mexico, has such formations. The nuclear waste would be transported there in containers designed to withstand fire, water and impact.
November 7, 1974 - Three year debate over whether or not to install new coal terminal on Mississippi river at Pig's Eye Lake was ended with the report from D.D. Wozniak, an officer with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, who stated that the planned facility would result in an unhealthy amount of environmental degradation.
November 12, 1974 - Overriding impressions from the morning session, is that the EQC technical committee is creating a watchdog agency on pesticides made of the heads of state agencies. The CAC was against having the heads of state agencies on the committee and said that it was a conflict of interest. However, they were overruled. The committee discussed a proposal to have a skeet shooting area in White Bear Lake. Dr. Steve Chapman claims that an EIS ought to be required and that trees in the area are already damaged. Lead would seep from the swamp into the local area. Jack Wallace, from the local gun club, states that a special ordinance was created so that they could go in and buy the property so that they could put in a shooting range.
November 12, 1974 - Opposition to granting of 40 year license to the Monticello nuclear power plant. If the plant will continue to release waste, then they will not receive a license. Operators of the facility need to be within the public health guidelines. The PCA is creating qualitative language to set the guidelines.
November 28, 1974 - The DNR has begun the process of giving the Kettle River in northern Minnesota scenic and wild rivers protection. It will likely be a lengthy and divisive process. At a public planning hearing DNR Commissioner Bob Herbst explains how the draft plan will be a model and standard for natural resource preservation in Minnesota. The plan cannot be imposed on residents against their will; land owners must be willing to sell property or scenic easements. DNR staffer Mike Pressness explains scenic easements. Sen. Florian Chemeliewski remembers the initial Minnesota Wild and Scenic Rivers Act proposal and tells how he fought successfully to remove eminent domain, keep final approval with local government and protect land owner and farmer rights. Pine City's zoning administrator Ward Blake says this program will be controversial and more difficult to enforce than regular shoreline regulations.
January 10, 1975 - MPR’s Kim Hodgson reports from Worthington as a blizzard begins to wreak havoc on the area. The positive is that the snow brings much needed moisture; the negative is more literal…a minus 27-degree wind-chill.
January 13, 1975 - MPR’s Steve Monroe reports on blizzard’s aftermath in Worthington, Minnesota. This includes an interview with young entrepreneur Steve Erebus, who is dealing with damaged greenhouses that contained orchids.
March 28, 1975 - MPR’s Steve Monroe reports on numerous towers toppled in southwestern Minnesota by winter storms, including the KRSW 700 ft broadcast tower. A combination of freezing rain and high winds were too much for numerous radio and TV towers in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota.
May 7, 1975 - The destruction and transport of a Missouri company's cache of the dangerous chemical Dioxin is discussed here. Debate concerns how and where to destroy the substance, and that a company located in Minnesota may be able to handle the process. The chemical cache in question had been linked to human and animal contamination when it was mixed with tar and spread on Missouri roads.
June 5, 1975 - Edward Baretta, interviewee: Fluorocarbons and hydrocarbons used in propellants. Abuse of these propellents by teens who discover huffing gives a high, absorbing into the body at 15 to 20 percent in atmosphere cause fibrillation of heart, can't pump blood, heart failure and sometimes death. Experiments find not as much problem to general public as once thought. With normal use of spray cans no adverse effects. Traces of these elements in atmosphere.