10/20/2026
🔥 Burn Notice Vol. 5: Global Week of Action Ends with Public Call-Out ⬇
RECAP: GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION
Community members and coalition partners rallied last week at the Jordan Area Community Council (JACC) to launch the local leg of GAIA’s Global Week of Action to Stop Incineration — timed to a new global report, Burn Book, that names HERC alongside 19 other incinerators worldwide.
“Permitted does not mean safe,” said Audua Pugh, JACC Executive Director and a District 2 resident. “Eighty percent of trash incinerators in this country sit in majority BIPOC communities. HERC sits on the edge of a historically Black and working-class North Minneapolis neighborhood. That is not a coincidence of geography. That is environmental racism.”
Gene Harvey, a Northsider and JACC member, called on Board Chair Commissioner Fernando to act: “To know that people are living around something like this and still allow it to continue without giving people the information they need, that feels cruel and inhumane. Chair Fernando, I am one of your constituents. I am asking you to listen to the people who live here, take our concerns seriously, and begin the process of closing HERC.”
“Even the limits set under Trump’s EPA are stricter than what the HERC burner is currently required to meet,” said Mary Blitzer, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter.
We’re demanding Hennepin County vote this year to close HERC by the end of 2027, install continuous real-time public monitoring, and hold HERC to the emission standards set for new incinerators.
Watch: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1cEnX5xvy7/
AUDUA PUGH CONFRONTS FERNANDO OVER COUNTY MONITORING AND TRACKING ZBC
At the Senate District 59 DFL Town Hall, Audua Pugh, Executive Director of the Jordan Area Community Council in North Minneapolis, raised an internal county report with Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando. The coalition obtained the report through a public data request. Prepared by county staff, it appears to document monitoring of the Zero Burn Coalition, the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, other environmental justice organizations, and community leaders, including Audua.
“Why would Chair Fernando allow a Hennepin County department to produce a surveillance report identifying me by name, documenting my role in the community, and analyzing the advocacy strategies of the organizations I work with?” Audua wrote.
Fernando’s response, in Audua’s words: “she claimed she did not know what we were referring to and diverted the conversation.”
“We need the County Board to exercise its authority and move forward with closing the HERC trash burner, not surveillance.”
Read Audua’s full post: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1127540719763155
WATCH: Dr. Amber ON WHY HERC IS A 37-YEAR-OLD PROBLEM
Doc Amber Alton, known for their incisive voice on Minneapolis city politics and policing, is turning that lens on the HERC trash burner. HERC was built in 1989, meant to run 20 years. It’s been 37. Its pollution limits aren’t based on what’s safe to breathe — they’re based on what regulators decided was cost-effective to require. Even EPA’s own updated standard is nearly six times stricter on lead than what HERC still runs on.
Watch and share: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FCoFMes3B/ also on: Instagram & TikTok
EVENTS
MINNESOTA HEALTHY CLIMATE SUMMIT: NOVEMBER 5-6
Session 1B: 10:05 – 11:15 a.m.
Adina Black, Associate Director of MNEJT, will be joining as a panelist for Minnesota Health and Climate: Clinical Cases and Lived Stories of Inequity, Health, and Healing, a session at the 2026 Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate event.
Drawing on clinical cases, lived experiences, environmental justice perspectives, and examples from across Minnesota, the session will explore how we can move beyond responding to climate-related health harms toward addressing the underlying conditions that continue to produce them.
Space is limited. Register here: https://hpforhc.org/mn-healthy-climate-summit/
GET INVOLVED
STAY CONNECTED BETWEEN ACTIONS: JOIN OUR SIGNAL AND GOOGLE GROUP
Want to stay connected with the community between ZBC events and escalations? Join our Signal group, an encrypted, secure way to stay in the loop. All you need is a phone number. Reach out if you need help setting it up.
We also have a google group for our most active members to get email updates in between newsletters. Respond to this email if you would like to be added to either!
Interested in ZBC committees? Fill out this interest form: https://secure.everyaction.com/ejJv_WX8OUGRp_FFVxvE9w2
EMAIL YOUR COMMISSIONER
Hennepin County has the authority to close the HERC trash burner. What's missing is the vote. Email your commissioner now and tell them: continuous emissions monitoring, modern emission limits, and a vote this year to close HERC by the end of 2027. Permitted doesn't mean safe.
Email now: bit.ly/zbcdemands
