Search
Answers to frequently asked questions about compliance and MPCA's enforcement of environmental rules in Minnesota.
The MPCA completed 78 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the second half of 2025, for a total of 146 for the year.
MPCA completed 100 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the first half of 2024
The MPCA closed 118 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the second half of 2023.
The MPCA completed 68 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, hazardous waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the first half of 2025.
The MPCA completed 75 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the second half of 2024.
Environmental rules and regulations are essential tools used to protect Minnesota’s environment, setting standards for environmental quality and limits on pollutants that can be discharged from facilities. The MPCA helps protect our environment by writing and enforcing these rules and regulations.
From January through March 2025, MPCA air monitoring data showed elevated lead levels that exceeded national ambient air quality standards near the facility. An MPCA inspection of Gopher Resource in spring 2025 confirmed that the source of the elevated lead levels was addressed.
Sugar beet processing facility emitted higher levels of hydrogen sulfide and particulates than its permit allows between 2020 and 2022. The Polk-Norman-Mahnomen Community Health Board will receive 40% of the $350,000 penalty according to a new Minnesota statute enacted in 2023.
Minnesota rules require many facilities that produce air emissions to conduct performance testing.
AccessibilityThe Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is committed to accessibility on its website. As part of that commitment, the MPCA makes every effort to comply with the State of Minnesota…
The MPCA administers programs that are governed by 45 chapters of rules. The MPCA periodically conducts a “housekeeping” rulemaking to make minor corrections and clarifications to the rules or to repeal rules that have become obsolete.
Heartland Corn Products failed emission stack tests in November 2021 and February 2022 for volatile organic compounds and particulates at its ethanol production facility in Winthrop, Minn.
Enbridge Energy is continuing restoration work around its new Line 3 crude oil pipeline across Minnesota. The new line replaces an aging Line 3 and began operating in October 2021, after Enbridge completed the project’s construction phase.
Researchers collect samples of sediment from the bottom of Lake of the Woods in 2024. (Photo courtesy of St. Croix Watershed Research Station) After years of study…
New major-emitting industrial facilities and major modifications of existing facilities must obtain a permit before construction and include the best pollution-control technology available if they significantly increase emissions.
East Side Jersey Dairy Inc., doing business as Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., had several liquid sugar spills they failed to report to the Minnesota Duty Officer in 2022 and 2023. The spills created a potential for harm to the environment and aquatic life had they reached wetlands near the company’s facility in Woodbury, Minnesota.
Agropur Inc., doing business as Le Sueur Cheese Company, land applied too much industrial byproduct, resulting in rates of nitrogen and phosphorus that exceeded the allowed limits by more than 10 percent. The violations occurred in 2022, near its cheese production facility in Le Sueur, Minnesota.
News releases and featured stories from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Water quality trades that have been arranged in Minnesota illustrate many opportunities to enhance pollution reduction efforts while offering flexibility and cost savings to regulated municipalities and industries.