Hennepin County Residents Escalate Demands for HERC Closure
Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center (HERC)
Residents Call Out Facility’s Harm to Black, Brown, Immigrant and Working-Class Families. At MLK Day rally, residents look to County Commissioners: “Value Black lives”
For Immediate Release: January 20, 2026
Media Contact: Erick Boustead, zeroburncoalition@gmail.com; Zoe PiSierra, mnejt@berlinrosen.com
HENNEPIN COUNTY – In their ongoing fight for racial and environmental justice, Hennepin County residents and members of the Zero Burn Coalition demanded County Commissioners immediately close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) at a virtual rally held on MLK Day. The rally, attended by local faith leaders, scientists, health workers, and more, marks the latest effort by the community to hold County Commissioners accountable to the health and well-being of their constituents and communities of color.
“Dr. King taught us that injustice is not only found in overt acts of hatred, but in systems that quietly harm, neglect, and exploit us. He warned us about the ‘giant triplets of racism, militarism, and economic exploitation,’” said Dr. B. Charvez Russell, Senior Pastor of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in south Minneapolis. “Today, we must name a fourth that is deeply connected to all three: environmental injustice. Because where pollution is placed is never accidental. Where toxins are concentrated is never random.”
HERC maintains a legacy of environmental racism, with HERC’s air pollution overwhelmingly affecting Black, Brown, immigration and working-class families who most prominently live in the neighborhoods surrounding the waste facility.
Despite intense community opposition, HERC was built in an overburdened area with a history of segregation and the highest asthma hospitalization rate in Minnesota. Since its construction in 1989, HERC has burned 1,000 tons of trash nearly every day, emitting dangerous air pollutants into a dense, urban community, overwhelmingly affecting communities of color. In fact, the population within a 3-mile radius of HERC has a higher concentration of low-income households and people of color than nearly 90% of the state. Today, HERC remains the largest polluter in Hennepin County.
“North Minneapolis has carried more than its share of harm. Children carry inhalers instead of backpacks. Families miss work and school because of preventable illness. This is not accidental. It is the result of decisions—where highways were built, where industry was placed, and whose health was treated as expendable,” said Dr. Joanne Hill, MPH, MSN, PHN, CHES, CRNA, APRN. “The HERC contributes to air pollution that damages lungs and hearts, and it disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. We are told to wait decades for relief. But waiting means more emergency room visits, more chronic disease, and more lives cut short.”
Community members’ opposition to HERC, which remains the largest polluter in Hennepin County, dates back to the incinerator's construction in 1989. In the more than three decades since, residents have continued to take the lead in demanding the facility’s closure, recently announcing an upcoming hunger strike unless a number of demands aimed at shutting down HERC are met.
The hunger strike demands include Commissioners: 1) calling for an immediate vote to initiate the closure process; 2) implementing a community-led transition process, including an official community task force, that will work with the Board to close HERC; and 3) ensuring accountability and transparency regarding the cover-ups at HERC related to workplace safety and operational issues, and by acknowledging HERC’s health effects, environmental racism and classism.
“Every day that Commissioners choose to keep the incinerator open is a deliberate choice to poison communities of color and stall real progress. Chair Fernando and the Hennepin County Commissioners are responsible for a public health crisis that has been ongoing for nearly 40 years,” said Leah Dunlevy, St. Paul resident, zero waste advocate and member of the Zero Burn Coalition.
“Burning garbage creates carbon – it is scientifically indefensible to say otherwise. This isn’t even greenwashing. It is an outright lie made into policy, against logic and the public’s desires,” said Lois Norrgard, Bloomington, Hennepin County District 5 resident and member of the Zero Burn Coalition. “This is why I am in this fight today. Why I am joining in solidarity with the hunger strike. It is time to say enough is enough. We must escalate, we must increase public pressure and scrutiny to shine a light on the county commissioners. We can’t let them keep getting away with lip service.”
###