Give the Minnesota pollution control agency points for an honest appraisal of the state's environmental health...
Minnesotans are recycling at about the same rate as a decade ago, but they're also producing more trash than ever before.
And because of a state population increase, so much more garbage is being created that Minnesota will need new landfills and incinerators sooner than expected.
That's one of several mixed grades in a state environmental report card released Tuesday by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency -- Minnesota's Environment 2005: How Are We Doing?
The report offers a general overview of the status and trends of eight environmental indicators of air quality, water quality and waste generation.
In some areas, the state's environment is managing to hang on despite a big increase in population, urban sprawl, energy use and waste. In other areas, problems continue to mount. The report uses a sliding scale, from poor to fair to good, with most grades coming in at fair.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/14430891.htm