2023 Top Women in Law: Joy Anderson

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Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

Joy Anderson wasn’t unhappy with her career at Gray Plant Mooty; she’d been thriving for 13 years and was a partner. But when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, she decided to make a change.

“The firm was great; very supportive,” Anderson said. “But the cancer did make me re-evaluate what I wanted to do.”

She jumped at the opportunity to work at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy as supervising attorney. She does work for Minnesota’s waterways, native lands and on a variety of environmental and climate issues.

She’s now leading the fight against PolyMet and its proposed copper-nickel mine for MCEA. In August, she and her team won a decision from the state’s Supreme Court finding that the water pollution permit issued to PolyMet by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) would not protect clean water. It’s a huge victory for MCEA and its allies.

“We really think this could lead to stronger controls,” she said. “Usually, the state agencies get deference from the courts, so this is so exciting.”

Anderson also worked with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to ensure environmental safety for the Huber Engineered Woods factory proposed near the band’s reservation.

The factory would have destroyed wetlands that protect an important wild rice bed, she said. “It would destroy the clean water there and we didn’t think the review was sufficient.”

In February 2023, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled the factory must undergo additional environmental study. The Court also recognized for the first time in Minnesota that the comments of Tribal governments should carry extra weight since they are sovereign nations and have expertise. Days later, Huber announced it would not build the factory.

When it comes to the future, Anderson knows that unfortunately there isn’t a shortage of environmental situations for her team to conquer.

“I’ll keep fighting the mining, keep fighting for clean water,” she said.