Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 07/11/2019

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Minnesota Brightfields Initiative – Solar Development on Closed Landfills The Metropolitan Council, the SolSmart The Minnesota Brightfields Initiative offers cost- Program, and their organizational partners have free professional, technical, financial, and aggregated a state-wide, regional, and national regulatory expertise, analysis, and aggregation team of public, industry association, and non-to assist local Minnesota governments and profit solar and energy professionals to support Minnesota state agencies develop solar energy an initiative termed the “MN Brightfields projects on closed landfills enrolled in the Initiative”. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) “Closed Landfill Program”. The desired outcomes of this initiative are: 1.Streamlining and increasing development of solar energy production at the 110+ Closed Landfill Program sites through a unified, state- wide, permitting pathway; 2.Creating a replicable framework that can be applied to various situations where there is interest by state or other entities in developing solar energy production projects on such sites; and 3.Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from such sites, with a specific consideration for mitigating impacts on low income and environmental justice areas, fulfilling the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (PCA) mission to (MPCA – Closed Landfill Program Sites) protect human health & the http://mpca.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Solutions/s2.html?appid=6470bb44bd83497993da5836333d1cb3 environment. Overview of the Barriers to Developing Solar Energy on MN Landfills and Mitigating GHG Emissions According to a PCA study, its Closed Landfill Program (CLP) sites’ methane and other greenhouse gas emissions constitute 18% of all State agencies’ collective emissions of greenhouse gases. CLP sites are often sited near low income and environmental justice communities, whom bear disproportionate exposure rates. Since October 6, 2017, the MN Brightfields Initiative has been working with the PCA and other state agencies to identify a pathway forward to mitigate the issues found at closed landfills and realize their mutually shared goals. The first step was identifying the major existing barriers: 1. To date, there is no clear and uniformly identified "brightfield" development pathway for either (a) all sites in the closed landfill program, or (b) for each individual site in the closed landfill program. This lack of clarity inhibits greenhouse gas emission progress and business certainty for would-be markets to develop in the state. Investment risks are high for industry participants that try to develop brightfields on a case-by-case basis