Derric Pennington, photographed on March 27, 2025. Penningtion was fired from his job as an economic policy analyst at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for his criticism of Cargill on LinkedIn. Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer.
Environmentalists have long feared that Minnesota state regulators have been captured by local industry heavyweights — allowing big companies like Cargill and 3M to shape environmental policy in their own interests instead of the public’s.
But no one would accuse Derric Pennington, a conservation scientist hired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency last year, of being captured by industry, and by Cargill in particular…