By Basant El-Faramawy
Newly released emails show Hennepin County officials in Minneapolis quietly surveilled environmental justice activists campaigning to close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), a waste incinerator that burns 365,000 tons of trash annually in low-income north Minneapolis neighborhoods. The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Zero Burn Coalition and Minnesota Environmental Justice Table (MNEJT), reveal a coordinated intelligence-gathering operation that shared activists' organizing plans with industry representatives.
County Employee Infiltrated Activist Meetings
Joe Vital, hired in 2021 as the county's environmental engagement coordinator, attended a June 2023 Zoom meeting where advocates planned their campaign to shut down HERC. Vital, previously seen as an ally in environmental justice circles, compiled a dossier on attendees — including a sitting state representative and former city council member — and distributed it to supervisors, including energy and environment department director Rosemary Lavin. County emails show the information was then reported to Lisa Cerney, a top public works official who later made public statements supporting the incinerator.
Information Shared With Industry to Kill Legislation
In March 2024, county employee Mallory Anderson passed advocates' emails about a bill to phase out polluting land uses to David McNary, who sits on the board of the Minnesota Resource Recovery Association, an industry trade group. McNary forwarded the organizing plans to HERC operator president Tim Steinbeck and an industry attorney, urging them to testify against the bill. Their efforts succeeded in killing the legislation. Steinbeck wrote the bill would be "detrimental" to the incinerator industry.
Activists Say Trust Was Exploited
Nazir Khan, MNEJT executive director, said advocates vetted meeting participants but did not detect Vital because his name was not displayed. Khan said Vital later claimed he was actually gathering intelligence on county officials for activists, telling Khan: "You have to offer a pound of flesh to maintain inside the room." Activists say they received little valuable information from Vital and do not believe his explanation.
County Defends Actions as Routine Engagement
Hennepin County, through a spokesperson, said the allegations "mischaracterize the county's community engagement work and staff responsibilities," describing the activities as ordinary government functions that include attending public meetings and monitoring social media to understand resident perspectives. The county maintains it seeks alignment but that cooperation does not require agreement on every issue. Similar battles over polluting incinerators are occurring in Baltimore and Miami, where facilities emit high levels of PFAS "forever chemicals" and other pollutants while being marketed as green operations.
