County Hired Activist to Report on Environmental Group Meetings, Emails Show

Hennepin County used an employee who is also an environmental justice activist to record who attended public meetings held by groups working to shut down the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, according to emails obtained by advocacy groups through a public records request. The incinerator burns 365,000 tons of trash a year and operates in neighborhoods the groups describe as low income.

The Zero Burn Coalition and the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table released a report on Oct. 29, 2026 that includes messages they obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The emails show county staff gathering names, group affiliations and planned activities of people organizing around the facility. The county has 9,000 employees.

Joe Vital, hired by the county in 2021 as an environmental engagement coordinator, attended a June 2023 Zoom meeting where advocates planned their next steps. Angie Timmons, a county environmental department manager, saw the invitation and asked Vital to attend. Vital then produced a list of participants that included a sitting state representative and a former city council member, along with what each person and group planned to do. The material went to Rosemary Lavin, the county's energy and environment department director.

Vital previously chaired the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Native Peoples Caucus and worked with Minnesota Environmental Justice Table members to oppose the Line 3 pipeline. Nazir Khan, the group's executive director, said Vital did not appear on the attendee list advocates screen for industry or political opponents. Khan said that when activists later confronted Vital, Vital described himself as working for them and gathering intelligence on county officials instead. Vital did not respond to a request for comment. Khan said the group does not believe Vital is on their side.

The records also show material moving toward industry. County official David McNary, who serves on the board of the Minnesota Resource Recovery Association, a trade group, forwarded organizing emails from advocates in March 2024. County employee Mallory Anderson had joined the advocates' email list without their knowledge and sent messages to McNary on 12 March. McNary passed them the next day to an industry attorney, Tim Steinbeck, president of the operator of the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, and other representatives. Steinbeck wrote that a bill allowing cities to phase out polluting land uses would be "detrimental" and urged testimony against it. The bill was defeated.

At a county board meeting this week, Minneapolis organizer Audua Pugh asked why public money and staff time went toward watching residents who want the trash burner shut down. She said the facility should have closed nearly a decade ago.

Hennepin County said in a statement that the claims "mischaracterize the county's community engagement work and staff responsibilities." A spokesperson said attending public meetings and taking part in social media to hear different views are "ordinary functions of government" and that "working together does not mean agreement on every issue."

Nearly 100 municipal or hazardous waste incinerators run in the United States, seven in Minnesota. Incinerators are known to release high levels of PFAS, chemicals that cannot be fully destroyed by burning. Khan said the county relies on people seen as part of the community to build relationships and pass information up the chain.