In the Phillips Community, the Smith Foundry and Bituminous Roadways are known for being next to one of the more odorous sections of the Midtown Greenway; but, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, vehicular traffic, and other facilities also contribute to the risk of air pollutant exposure in the four Phillips neighborhoods- East Phillips, Midtown Phillips, Phillips West, and Ventura Village-Hiawatha Ave to 35-W, Lake Street to I-94. In this article we will break these sources down and begin to question how they cumulatively impact the lives and well being of nearby residents and residents of adjacent neighborhoods.
The United States Congress enacted the Clean Air Act in 1970 to finally address the usually unseen menace known as air pollution. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) uses the Clean Air Act when issuing air permits, and they have historically tracked these pollutants through self-reported annual air emission inventories from industrial facilities (with the most recently published inventory being 2021). We will have to rely on these self-reports for now, but new legislation like the Frontline Communities Protection Act (HF637) and community air monitoring efforts are looking to change this.… Read the rest “Air Quality and Cumulative Impacts”
An image created by Minnesota Department of Transportation showing the area under consideration for the Rethinking I-94 Project. SOURCE: MNDOT
MNDOT released alternatives to Interstate 94, as part of the Rethinking I-94 Project, in a meeting held July 16th. Attending that meeting was the MNDOT Policy Advisory Committee and Twin Cities residents including elected officials.
The high-level alternative plans presented several options including keeping the freeway as it currently is, an expanded I-94, and other combinations of roadway and transit changes.
According to reporting from the Minnesota Daily, the plans were met with some pushback from participants, including a response from Saint Paul Council Member Mitra Jalali (Ward 4).
“If the goals and the project’s master vision is to have equity, climate and resiliency, freeway expansion is actually categorically in opposition to those things, and I’m trying to understand how it even got into the mix,” said Jalali.
Other community members also spoke up on both the equity and climate impacts of the proposed alternatives.
The construction of I-94 between Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 1968 cut through Black and Brown communities, including Rondo and North Minneapolis.
