FACT CHECK: Who Is Actually Blocking Closure of the HERC Trash Burner?
The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center -- known as the HERC trash burner -- is a trash incinerator in Minneapolis owned by Hennepin County. It burns roughly 365,000 tons of waste a year and is the largest single source of air pollution in Minneapolis.
Communities living nearby -- disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and low-income residents -- have been calling for closure for nearly four decades. In 2023, the County Board passed a resolution to develop a closure plan. That plan can only be initiated with a binding vote.
Now, rather than scheduling that vote, Commissioner Fernando is pointing the finger at Mayor Frey and the City of Minneapolis -- and floating a sorting facility proposal with no public details and no community process. Until she shares details with the city and the community for questions and input, the Zero Burn Coalition cannot take this proposal as anything more than another deflection and distraction tactic.
Here are the facts:
Commissioner Fernando's June 17 statement claims the City of Minneapolis is the barrier to closing the HERC trash burner. In order for the county to stop incineration, she claims the city must update its “published position on the future of the HERC site” to call for a “pre-sort and recycling facility.”
THE LAW: The county owns HERC and has the authority to close it, to repurpose it, or to enable Minneapolis to send trash instead to landfills. Minnesota's Restriction on Disposal statute (Minn. Stat. § 473.848) requires that whenever possible, waste be ‘processed’ before landfilling. It does not require HERC to keep operating. Under this state law, Minneapolis cannot legally send trash to landfills without the county first either: (1) shutting down or repurposing HERC; or (2) reducing HERC's intake capacity by a corresponding amount to what Minneapolis sends to HERC -- roughly 80,000 tons per year. That reduction requires county action.
THE CITY'S POSITION: The city's own June 1 letter to Fernando confirms that “Both Council President Payne and Mayor Frey have articulated that they are receptive to the idea that a future use of the HERC site could be a sorting facility," and given that this is the county’s proposal, it "would need to be offered by the County, with vetting from City staff, the City of Minneapolis Planning Commission, and the City Council." Mayor Frey signed a resolution in November 2024 calling for incineration to stop at HERC by the end of 2027.
NO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Fernando has put forward a “pre-sort” facility proposal with almost no public details and no community process. On April 27, MNEJT Executive Director Nazir Khan wrote directly to Fernando informing her that Frey, Payne, and state legislators all expressed interest in her proposal and requested information on next steps. Her office has not responded. Constituents have also asked Fernando for details about this proposal. She has been unresponsive. The coalition is calling for a public meeting on the proposal so that it can be understood and vetted. This is the same backroom approach the county took when it attempted to site a large waste facility in Brooklyn Park without community input.
THE COALITION'S POSITION: Just as Fernando has misrepresented the city's position, she continues to mislead about what the community is calling for to replace HERC. The Zero Burn Coalition does not advocate for landfills -- we have put forward a detailed vision for converting the HERC site into a decentralized zero-waste hub with composting, recycling, reuse, and good union jobs for frontline communities. Fernando's “pre-sort” facility proposal may align with elements of that vision. We don't know -- because she hasn't shared any details.
MEANWHILE AT HERC:The county refuses to enact its own closure plan. The Zero Burn Coalition is demanding continuous emissions monitoring and compliance with emissions limits applicable to new incinerators. HERC's pollution limits are based on 1995 EPA standards that courts and scientists have called improperly calculated. Only 3 of HERC's pollutants are monitored continuously -- most are tested once a year or never. Oregon passed a law requiring continuous monitoring at incinerators to address the well-documented problem of facilities gaming periodic tests. The EU's updated Industrial Emissions Directive goes further, mandating continuous dioxin monitoring during all operating conditions including startup and shutdown. Hennepin County hasn't kept pace with either. A federal lawsuit filed May 11 by Earthjustice challenges the Trump EPA's weak municipal waste combustor standards. A May 30 Guardian investigation found HERC's PFAS emissions are 2.6 times proposed EPA standards for PFOA. Hennepin County also faces a legal demand over its handling of HERC ash, which it trucks to northern Dakota County near farms, residential areas, and the Mississippi River.