How ethical are Minnesota's big businesses?

Covalence just released a study ranking 581 Dow Jones companies based on ethical issues like "labour standards, waste management, product social utility or human rights policy."

At least 11 companies based in Minnesota made the cut. Only Best Buy and General Mills broke 50 (barely). Most, like Target and US Bancorp, fell somewhere in the middle (this is probably the place to emphasize that all these rankings are relative, there are no saints on this list).

Failing dismally, in the bottom 10%, is Mosaic Co. They're a Monsanto-like chemical manufacturer. From their website, it looks like they specialize in crop additives, feed additives (yuck), and "specialized products." They were created in 2004 from a merger of IMC Global and Crop Nutrition division of Cargill.

Part of their business involves mining, including phosphates, using what a Florida resident calls "strip-mining." The company ran into a little opposition from environmentalists and townships in Florida, in retribution they used their legal muscle to challenge the townships' right to build water reservoirs, according to this editorial BY the Englewood Herald-Tribune. They were also actually fined by the state of Florida in 2004 for a spill at a phosphate processing plant that spilled millions of acidic wastewater into nearby creek. Not surprisingly, they've been active in the fight against wetland preservation.

45. Best Buy Co. Inc. | Retail

50. General Mills Inc. | Food & Beverages

136. Ecolab Inc. | Chemicals

198. 3M Co. | Industrial Goods & Services

257. Target Corp. | Retail

265. Unitedhealth Group Inc. | Health Care

276. US Bancorp | Banks

345. Ameriprise Financial Inc. | Financial Services

369. The Travelers Companies Inc. | Insurance

374. Medtronic Inc. | Health Care

500. Mosaic Co. | Chemicals