Clean Water Action Minnesota

In This Issue: 2024 Legislative Session & What the Election Outcome Means | Tackling The Problem Of E-Waste | Environmental Justice: Wins and Goals | Procurement and You | National Updates: 2024 Election Results and Our Work - The Safe Drinking Water Act: 50 Years of Progress — But the Work is Never Finished - A Win for Our Water: Progress On Getting Lead Out Of Drinking Water. | Brunch For Better

In This Issue: National Update | Tackling PFAS: Where Do We Start? | | Amara's Law Implementation | East Phillips Advances Environmental Justice | Implementing the Cumulative Impacts Law | Election Updates | Meet Morgan Schafer
New Zero Waste Organizer in Minnesota

In 2023, Minnesota passed the strongest PFAS prevention legislation in the country. The legislation was named Amara's Law after Amara Strande, a young woman who grew up in an area contaminated by PFAS and diagnosed with an exceedingly rare form of cancer. Amara advocated and testified in support of the bills banning all non-essential use of PFAS chemicals, requiring manufacturers who are selling products in Minnesota to disclose if PFAS chemicals are present, and to close a loophole in the 2019 bill that ended the use of PFAS in firefighting foam.

Minnesota plastic bag recycling is estimated to be less than 10%. Clean Water Action is working to remove the plastic bag ban preemption in Minnesota statute, which will return local control around this issue back to where it belongs — with each city and town in Minnesota.

Minnesota leads the nation in boats per capita, and 80,000 to 300,000 of these boats are shrink-wrapped every year over the winter with millions of pounds of plastic used. Clean Water Action is supporting legislation in the 2024 Minnesota Legislature to encourage the collection, recycling, and tracking of boat shrink-wrap plastic.