Gruenhagen logic: There's been no warming trend over the last 16 years (according to CPAC), therefore climate change is a myth.

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, is anti-gay and gets his "facts" from materials distributed at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Other than that, we're sure he's exactly the sort of elected leader Minnesota needs.

SEE ALSO: MNGOP Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen: Gov't is paying minority men to impregnate women [VIDEO]

During a recent rant on the House floor, Gruenhagen characterized climate change as "just a complete United Nations fraud and lie" and "utter nonsense." He went on to suggest there isn't any environmental problem the free hand of the unfettered capitalist marketplace isn't capable of solving on its own.

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Study: Our lakes are on drugs.

The ice just now receding from Minnesota's lakes looks like it's on drugs. So maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that our lakes are, in fact, full of them.

SEE ALSO: Minnesota House members vote to drug test themselves

A study put together by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (read it here) found that traces of cocaine are present in about one-third of Minnesota lakes, and about 30 percent contain the antidepressant Amitriptyline. Less intoxicatingly, more than three-fourths contain the insect repellant DEET.

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Image by Tatiana Craine

The long and short of it: It takes less energy to cool Miami than it does to heat Minneapolis.

Since we don't have to run air conditioners for the vast majority of the year, you might think living in Minneapolis (America's coldest major metro) is less energy-demanding, in terms of heating and cooling, than living in Miami (American's warmest metro).

SEE ALSO: Climate change could make Mpls the new NYC, says The Economist [VIDEO]

Think again. A study by the University of Michigan's Michael Sivak found that not only is Miami less energy-demanding -- it's about three and a half times less energy-demanding.

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Concerned about frac sand mining? Julie Rosen has a message for you: Nut up.

Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, believes life is hard -- especially if you're unlucky enough to live near a frac sand deposit.

SEE ALSO: Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan resigns amid frac sand lobbying controversy

During a hearing earlier this week about a proposed one-year moratorium on new frac sand mines in Minnesota, Rosen essentially told the assembled crowd -- made up mostly of moratorium supporters -- that they should suck it up and realize bad smells, air pollution, and shitty roads are just part of rural living. Her comments prompted incredulous chuckles and guffawing.

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KARE 11 screengrab

With frac sand mining proving to be a controversial issue in southeast Minnesota, Egan's decision to work as an industry lobbyist led to his resignation.

Two weeks after saying he didn't plan to let a lobbying controversy end his tenure as Red Wing mayor, Dennis Egan has had a change of heart.

SEE ALSO: Sauk Rapids Mayor Brad Gunderson was too drunk for jail after drunk-driving arrest

Egan became mayor in early 2011 and won 73 percent of the vote last November, but has been under fire in recent weeks after he announced he'd taken a job lobbying for the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council.

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courtesy Department of Natural Resources

The nearly 250 fish hauled out of Ronald Wayne Johnson's home

Ronald Wayne Johnson was recently pulling his fishing hut off a lake in Otter Tail County, about an hour from Fergus Falls, when a conservation officer stopped to say hey and see how the catching was.

Johnson had gotten a few fish, he said, though not many. The officer, Shane Osborne, asked if Johnson had more fish at home. The angler replied that he wasn't sure, but that if Osborne thought he might have too many, he was welcome to follow him back and check for himself.

Seems like a less-than-bright invitation from a man who, Osborne found, harbored a catch cache nearly 250 fish over the legal limit.

See Also:
- Fish Bites: MN Zoo and top chefs raise awareness for sustainable fish
- Wisconsin DNR discovers 125-year-old, 7-foot-long sturgeon [PHOTO]
- Hennepin County resorts to color psychology in fight against invasives
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adamsfelt and MTAPhotos via Flickr

Minneapolis skyline and, right, New York City preparing the subway for Hurricane Sandy.

If we survive tomorrow's Mayan apocalypse, we may have to start contending with a more insidious doom: rising oceans. But one way to offset at least the financial punch of climate change, says The Economist's economic correspondent, Ryan Avent, is for people to start migrating. Specifically, migrating to places like Minneapolis.

See Also:
- Minnesota is the state of the future, Gallup says
- Bill Clinton blasts Romney's climate change skepticism in Minneapolis speech [VIDEOS]
- Minnesota's average low temperature rose faster than any other state's since 1970, says new study


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White Bear Lake Restoration Association on Facebook

Just a few years ago, this was a White Bear Lake beach. Now it's a wasteland.

Yesterday, the DNR was sued by a citizens' group calling itself the White Bear Lake Restoration Association. With the lake dramatically shrinking over the last decade or so, the group is demanding the DNR limit the amount of water cities can pump from the aquifer beneath it.

SEE ALSO: White Bear Lake neighbor from hell is a Met Council executive assistant

White Bear Lake's water level dropped more than five feet between early 2003 and late 2010, the Star Tribune reports. It rose slightly last year, but is once again at a record low, leaving brown patches of land where lake used to be.

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Bills isn't worried in the least about carbon emissions from his Wellstone-style bus.

Kurt Bills' no-good-very-bad U.S. Senate campaign will limp across the finish line today, but he couldn't help himself from offering up one last head-scratcher before fading out of our lives.

SEE ALSO:
-- Bills ad linking Klobuchar and Petters is "preposterous," says Republican bankruptcy trustee
-- Desperate Bills campaign blasted for calling Klobuchar "prom queen," "daddy's little girl"

During his final debate against Senator Amy Klobuchar on Sunday night, Bills beat around the bush when first discussing climate change, prompting moderator Cathy Wurzer to ask him directly: 'Do you believe in climate change?' Here's how Bills, a high school economics teacher who kept his job during his ill-fated campaign and will continue to teach Minnesota's youth after the election, responded: "I do not believe there is such a thing as climate change, no."

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Photo for City Pages by Steven Cohen (check out a slideshow here)

For Clinton, climate change is no laughing matter.

Bill Clinton was in town yesterday delivering a speech at the University of Minnesota, and during one notable passage he put Mitt Romney on blast for laughing about climate change during his RNC speech.

SEE ALSO:
-- Mitt Romney Glitter F-Bomb: Did he say "fuck," "faggot," or something else? [VIDEO]
-- The Mpls Federal Reserve breaks down the Great Recession, steady recovery out of it [GRAPHICS]
-- Michele Bachmann says Romney is best presidential candidate because Obama is too wealthy [VIDEO]

Romney's climate change skepticism looks especially bad in the wake of the unprecedented destruction wrought along the Atlantic Seaboard by Hurricane Sandy, which as of yesterday had killed at least 32 people while doing more than $20 billion in damage.


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