Celebrate Black History Month
MMB is sponsoring its fourth Annual Black History Month Speaker Series this month. Events are scheduled over the lunch hours, noon-1:30 p.m. Bring your lunch, family members, and more. No sessions will be recorded. Check out the agenda on MMB's Employee Resource Groups' webpage.
This week's events:
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Professional development classes still available
Through a partnership with Century College’s Performance Plus Learning Partners Program (PPLP), MPCA employees can access a wide range of courses online and on-campus at Century College in White Bear Lake.
To support ongoing career development, the courses in the PPLP catalog are already funded for MPCA employees and cover topics including project management, management & leadership, communications, and Microsoft applications. Registration requirements and the spring catalog can be viewed here.
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Questions about retirement benefits?
Representatives from the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) will be available Tuesday, February 7, for individual appointments. Employees will take away information on all three benefits MSRS provides: State Retirement Benefits (MSRS), Deferred Compensation, and Health Care Savings Plan.
Click on the time that works for you and fill in the requested information. You will get a confirmation email with your date and time. To register: To meet in person, click here or to meet via phone/Zoom, click here
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Innovative ideas welcome!
What meaningful idea(s) do you have to improve MPCA’s products, services, programs, processes, operations, or business model that would deliver value to our agency and those whom we serve? Submit your ideas now to IdeaScale: MPCA Innovation Forum. Register with your state email address and submit your ideas for the 2022-2023 Innovation Campaign. You can submit your ideas to IdeaScale until February 17.
Job opening
This vacancy is being reposted. If you applied during the original posting period (12/10/22-01/03/23), you do not need to reapply.
Life cycle assessment specialist: This position will lead LCA research and analysis for a broad range of materials and products, and direct research projects aimed at reducing resource needs and environmental harms of high-impact items. The secondary purpose is to serve as the Resource Management and Assistance Division’s technical expert on LCA. Job ID: 61364. Location: Various. Closing date: February 17.
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FAB tidbits
— from the Financial Assistance and Budgeting (FAB) Section, your partners in purchasing, accounting, contracting, and budgeting.
Term of the week: A business quote is a document that a seller provides to a buyer to offer goods or services at a stated price, under specified conditions. A quote assists the MPCA Procurement Specialist in creating a purchase order. A quote or quotation is not considered an invoice.
How to look up a certified Targeted Group (TG), Economically Disadvantaged (ED), or Veteran-Owned supplier? Search: https://mn.gov/admin/osp/government/procuregoodsandgeneralservices/tgedvo-directory/
A user can filter by a commodity code or description. If a vendor is retrieved (e.g. Commercial printing) a requestor can access the supplier information provided in the summary and contact the supplier to verify they can provide the requested services or commodity and/or receive a quote. Note: This link is also provided under the special expense/purchase request on-line services general information tab.
If you have a question that you would like the FAB section to answer on the PCA 2Day, please email Sandy Bowes at sandy.bowes@state.mn.us.
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Water Gremlin virtual public informational meeting
In July 2022, the MPCA released an initial draft permit for Water Gremlin. Based on the comments received, the MPCA has revised the draft permit and released a new permit for public comment. Water Gremlin must adhere to more stringent requirements to demonstrate compliance with the permit, including record keeping, calculations, stack testing, and reporting. The new draft permit expires in five years instead of Water Gremlin's current non-expiring permit.
A virtual public information meeting will be held February 9, 6-8 p.m. The meeting will be recorded and a link to the recording will be available on the Water Gremlin permit web page for those who are not able to attend on February 9. The draft permit is open for public comments until March 3. Join meeting.
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Green Energy and Energy Conservation Panel
Tuesday, February 7, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Hear from five of your MPCA co-workers on what they’re doing. Topics will include geothermal heating and cooling; rooftop residential solar; heat pumps; energy conscious remodeling; car-free lifestyle; and off-the-grid living. Come prepared to learn, ask questions, and perhaps share an energy story of your own.
Join the meeting.
Phased retirement program information sessions for staff
The Phased Retirement Pilot is designed to help the agency manage the workforce by capturing retiring staffs’ extensive knowledge before they leave the agency. the phased retirement pilot is available to only MAPE and the two plans (Commissioner and Managerial). For additional information regarding the Phased Retirement Pilot Program, HR has set up the following informational sessions. More information about the phased retirement pilot program, as well as related forms, is available on the Lorax. (Scroll down to "Phased Retirement.") If you have questions about this program, reach out to Human Resources.
February 7, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Join the meeting.
February 9, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Join the meeting.
Water Issues Seminar: Lake Superior in a Warming World
Thursday, February 9, 9-10 a.m.
Lakes are among the sentinel systems that provide us with insight and evidence of the geographic distribution of global warming. This is true across spatial scales, from small lakes to large, and across geographies, with warming lakes observed around the world. However, these trends can be masked to an extent by natural year-to-year variability, making long, consistent records of temperature invaluable. Jay Austin will show how the long datasets from Lake Superior can be used to explore connections between seasons that amplify its response to long-term climate warming.
Join Webex meeting.
8 Hour HAZWOPER Refresher classes
This course is required for staff who respond to hazardous substances released in the environment. The course satisfies the OSHA requirements for uncontrolled hazardous waste operations, response, and management. The course will cover the levels of PPE, toxicology, chemical safety, and managing an incident. Sign up through ELM. A minimum of eight attendees is required to hold each class. Below are upcoming classes.
R32PCASAF002-091 In-person – St. Paul February 9
R32PCASAF002-092 In-person – St. Paul March 15
R32PCASAF002-093 In-person – St. Paul April 6
R32PCASAF002-090V Virtual May 31
RESCHEDULED Air Issues Seminar: West Virginia v. EPA
Monday, February 13, 2-3 p.m.
Please join us for the February Air Issues Seminar. Karen Mongoven, a senior staff associate from the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, will present on the recent West Virginia v. EPA decision (U.S. Supreme Court Case No. 20-1530) and how the decision will impact air and climate policy work. The Supreme Court decision limited the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act.
Join Teams meeting.
Drone Resources brown bag
Wednesday, February 15, noon-1 p.m.
Are you interested in using drones in your work? Are you curious about analytical applications of the drone data? Join members of the Drone Resource Team as they discuss the current (and potential!) MPCA drone fleet, capabilities, and applications to agency work. The team will soon be accepting project proposals for 2023. Members of the team will be available to answer any of your drone-related questions.
Join the meeting.
First aid class
Wednesday, February 15
This class is an initial or re-certification class for staff who wishes to renew or obtain a new First Aid certification. The class will take 8 hours and is in-person in St. Paul. Please register in ELM. The class code is R32PCASAF011-073.
February's Equity Experience events
Equity Experience events offer a variety of ways to “experience” equity, so we can hold ourselves accountable to learning, growing, and engaging with this important work and our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Check out the event list on The Lorax. In order to receive an IDEA credit for attending an Equity Experience event, you will be required to report what you learned, thought, experienced, etc. to your team, so that there will be accountability and shared learning.
Black History Month: Into the Depths Podcast Series
Historians estimate that some 36,000 ships brought nearly 12.5 million Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database. But not all survived. Somewhere between 500 and 1,000 ships are believed to have wrecked, but only a handful have been found and documented. Join National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts on a historic journey as she documents some of the thousand slave ships that wrecked in the Atlantic Ocean during the transatlantic slave trade and follows a group of Black divers who are dedicated to finding and helping document the wrecks. A new six-part podcast series, Into the Depths, and National Geographic Magazine explore the complex history of the global slave trade and the stories of the estimated 12.5 million Africans forced to make the Middle Passage. Listen to this 7 minute NPR audio clip as an intro to the series, and find out more about the IDEA credit listening sessions on the Lorax.
Join the IDEA Credit Book Club!
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2-3:30 p.m. first discussion
Join Carolyn Kammeyer (she/her), recruitment & retention consultant, and Riley Spielman (they/them), diversity consultant, throughout 2023 for the IDEA Credit Book Club! We will read four books throughout the year. Our first book to kick things off is a non fiction work by Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. The first discussion will take place Tuesday, February 28, 2-3:30 p.m. Find out more on the Lorax calendar.
In the news
Report: Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped, but work still needed
A new report says Minnesota has made progress overall in cutting greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, but still faces significant challenges to curb emissions from certain sources, including vehicles and farms. — Albert Lea Tribune
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Recently in social media at the MPCA!
Today the MPCA and Minnesota Department of Commerce shared new data on Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions. Good news: climate pollution in our state dropped 23% between 2005 and 2020.
Collaborative action works – it’s time to advance Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework. Read the full report: https://bit.ly/3wIilau
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