Greater Minnesota Environmental Trust

Complete Streets toolkit available to local governments

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:32:25 +0000

The Complete Streets act, which passed this spring and took effect August 1, requires the Minnesota Department of Transportation to consider the safety of all users, not just drivers, when designing roads and highways. The law only applies to MNDOT funded roads. Local governments are encouraged to enact their own complete streets policies. The Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition has published a guidebook to help local governments create this type of policy, which can be found here.

EPA offering free energy benchmarking assistance

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:10:57 +0000

This summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is offering cities, wastewater treatment facilities, and other local government units free energy benchmarking assistance. The program will allow you to benchmark against others nationwide. You can learn more here.

MPR: DNR restructures in hopes of better water protection

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:45:59 +0000

Minnesota Public Radio reports today that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will merge two of its departments in a plan to better protect the state’s waters. To read more about the change, click here.

St. Cloud Times examines the cost of growth

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:58:07 +0000

The St. Cloud Times has published a series of articles about the fall-out of the development boom and examines the reprocussions to cities and homeowners. Click a link below to view these articles:

Consumerist: Cul-de-sacs are making us fat

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:50:58 +0000

The Consumerist, a website focused on exposing wasteful consumer practices, writes today about suburban development patterns that are discouraging physical activities such as walking, running, and biking. The post compares a typical cul-de-sac laden community with a grid-system community and examines the impact of each development pattern on walkability. Read the full article here.

GMET Gazette, 5/26/2010

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:58:48 +0000

Click here to read the latest GMET Gazette.

Winona Daily News: Winona County, city reap energy cost savings

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:08:31 +0000

The Winona Daily News reports that energy efficiency improvements have saved the City of Winona over $120,000 in 2009 and over $27,000 for Winona County. The city, a GMET member, and the county pursued energy saving goals in partnership with GMET business member McKinstry. Read the full article here.

GMET Gazette, 4/12/2010

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:10:49 +0000

Click here to read the latest GMET Gazette.

GMET Gazette, 3/18/2010

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:59:20 +0000

Click here to read the latest edition of the GMET Gazette.

Energy news aggregator launched

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:18:28 +0000

Ex-Star Tribune and MPR staffers recently launched an energy news aggregator. Midwest Energy News, produced by the Media Center of Fresh Energy, aims to not be an “advocacy endeavor,” but rather a “daily online guide to the best journalism available on energy subjects of special interest to readers in an eight-state region.” If you are interested in energy news, be sure to check the site out!