04/18/2026
RELEASE: As Hunger Strikers Mark One Week in Fight to Shutter HERC Trash Burner, County Commissioners Remain Silent and On Defense
Elected officials refuse to engage—and resort to misinformation—while residents put their bodies on the line
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today marks one week into the “Freedom to Breathe” hunger strike, where Hennepin County residents and members of the Zero Burn Coalition are putting their bodies on the line to demand County officials hold a public vote to close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), the county’s largest source of air pollution, by December 31, 2027 and develop a community-led transition process to a zero-waste future. In response, County Commissioners have deployed avoidant tactics, refused to engage with the hunger strikers and their own constituents, and even made false claims about the hunger strikers’ intent.
In 2023, the Hennepin County Board passed a resolution committing to close HERC between 2028 and 2040. However, the resolution represents nothing more than a plan to make a plan. In order for the County to proceed with a closure plan, the Board must hold a formal vote. To date, no vote has been taken, and no public implementation plan has been introduced. In 2024, Randy Kiser, operations and compliance manager for the County’s solid waste and energy division, confirmed in writing there are no plans to terminate operation, according to records obtained through a data request. Three years later, HERC remains in operation without a defined pathway to closure.
Over the last week, County Board Chair Irene Fernando (D-2) has refused to engage with the hunger strikers. Meanwhile, Chair of the Hennepin County Health Committee Angela Conley (D-4) has dismissed the need for a firm vote to shut down HERC, while failing to take concrete steps to close the facility.
County Commissioners Actively Avoid Strikers
While hunger strikers and allies have regularly updated the community about the fight to shut down HERC, including through public events and town halls, their efforts to engage directly with County Commissioners have been met with refusal. When hunger strikers hand-delivered a letter to Commissioners' offices on the first day of the hunger strike, no Commissioners were there to receive it. When hunger strikers waited patiently at their Commissioners' offices this week to discuss HERC closure plans, they've been told no one is available, despite the strikers seeing staff present and other constituents confirming they have in-person meetings with the electeds.
“We have now gone nearly eight days without food. I am asking for a real conversation with my Hennepin County Commissioner, Chair Irene Fernando, yet she is nowhere to be found,” said hunger striker Natasha Villanueva, a North Minneapolis resident. “I’ve repeatedly reached out to Chair Fernando to obtain answers to basic questions about her own proposal to convert HERC into another industrial waste facility that will cost millions of our tax dollars to build, and I’ve received nothing in return—no details, no transparency, no response. The fact that decisions like this are being made behind closed doors without involving the people most impacted is unacceptable, undemocratic, and it’s not good governance. This is exactly why we’ve reached this point and put our bodies on the line to shut down HERC once and for all.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde (D1) dismissed the hunger strike in comments to Sahan Journal, saying, “I think it’s a fair and respected way to draw attention. Will it lead to action? I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I said it would.”
Separately, in an interview with WCCO, Lunde said: “Until we have plans for sorting facilities throughout Hennepin, I will not support closing the HERC.”
A Commissioner’s False Binary on Landfills
While Chair Fernando remains silent, Commissioner Angela Conley has stated that she opposes closing HERC if it would result in even a temporary increase in landfilling. In effect, this sets an unprecedented standard: requiring all 365,000 tons of waste currently processed at HERC each year to be reduced or recycled before closure. Meeting that threshold would require Hennepin County to become the nation’s leading zero-waste system—and the first in the country to close an incinerator without any interim increase in landfill use.
In contrast, Zero Waste USA’s 2023 HERC Transition Plan finds that closing HERC alongside a temporary increase in landfilling would enable the county to accelerate progress toward zero waste. Incineration is widely recognized as a barrier to waste reduction, as it depends on a steady stream of trash to remain financially viable—undermining recycling and composting efforts. In fact, incinerator closures have created urgency and driven investment across the county to accelerate waste reduction and recycling.
Detroit’s recycling rate doubled after its incinerator closed in 2019. Hennepin County itself forced Minneapolis in 2014 to launch its current city composting program after a community effort blocked the county from burning 20% more trash at HERC. Despite this track record, Conley has argued against setting a closure date, stating in an interview with Sahan Journal: “We don’t have to set a date to create urgency; the urgency is already there from the board actions.”
Commissioners Assert False Claims
While some Commissioners have refused to comment, others have issued false statements about the coalition. This week, Commissioner Kevin Anderson (D-7) alleged that the coalition has ties to landfill companies, an accusation the Zero Burn Coalition maintains is false and deflects from the County’s responsibility to act.
In an email to Commissioner Anderson responding to the comments, hunger strikers requested a public apology and demanded he produce concrete evidence to back up his claims.
“The irony of your allegation is that the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table has been co-leading for 2 years a state legislative effort to establish better regulation and standards for landfills,” wrote Nazir Khan, one of the strikers, to Anderson. “That makes the landfill companies our opposition… Meanwhile, you and Hennepin County continually whine about landfills while depending on them for more than half the county’s waste—but you’ve done nothing to push to regulate them.”
With County Silent, Strikers and Allies Lead on Community Engagement
As Commissioners continue to sidestep their role in shutting down HERC and supporting public health, the Zero Burn Coalition and allied organizations have upped their community engagement.
This week, leading Minnesota health professionals held a public health hearing to fill that gap and sound the alarm on the facility’s real-time health consequences. The event came in direct response to Commissioner Conley’s refusal to make HERC a topic at the County’s official Health Committee, which she chairs.
“We know long-term exposure to air pollution increases disease risk, not from one moment, but from repeated exposure. When communities experience higher rates of asthma, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease, it’s not just personal behavior—it is environmental,” said Dr. Joanne Hill at the forum Thursday. “Data shows 5-6 times higher asthma rates in Minneapolis… In addition to the cumulative impacts of traffic from historical redlining, there’s not much we can do to change that. But we can change HERC, and it can be closed.”
Despite the lack of response or action from County Commissioners, the hunger strikers will continue on their strike into next week.
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