By David Pierini Staff Reporter

This story was made possible by a partnership with Energy News Network

Minnesota officials needed only to glance out the window to read the room at a forum last week to gauge public opinion on proposed rules to reduce air pollution from cars and trucks.

Hybrid and electric vehicles filled the parking lot at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center in North Minneapolis. The crowd of 120 Twin Cities residents gave a clear signal to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that they supported the proposed rules.

The forum was one of six statewide to gather public input on the Clean Cars Minnesota proposal. The rules would require auto manufacturers that sell vehicles in Minnesota to raise fuel efficiency standards to levels equal to California and 13 other states. And they would require car companies to gradually sell more electric vehicles in the state, where selection is currently limited compared to states with the requirement.

Fresh Energy, which publishes the Energy News Network, is among the organizations advocating for the proposed rules.

The new rules could be adopted sometime next year, which is not soon enough for the zip code where the Nov. 14 meeting took place.

North Minneapolis has borne a heavy burden breathing air heavily polluted by a number of industries along the Mississippi River and from clouds of exhaust from busy I-94 that coils along one side of the community. This past fall after a fight of several years, the MPCA and community activists won a judge’s order to finally get Northern Metal Recycling to halt a shredding operation that was sending toxic levels of heavy metals into the air and leaving several nearby residents with respiratory ailments.