Residents near a St. Paul metal foundry expressed frustrations to Mayor Kaohly Her on Tuesday over a lack of support from the city among ongoing pollution concerns.
Neighbors of Northern Iron and Machine, which is fighting the state over permit violations, told Her stories about asthmatic children and scrubbing thick dust off their windows. The foundry is located off Phalen Boulevard on the city’s East Side.
“It is harming children, and speaking for the children of my neighborhood, it is horrible,” Anna-Marie Foster, a board member of the Payne-Phalen Community Council, told Her.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) moved last June to revoke Northern Iron’s operations permit through a court case. The state launched a permit revocation process after a years long legal battle with Northern Iron over concerns about excessive pollution and findings that the foundry had flouted regulators for years by modifying pollution control equipment without updating its permit as required. The MPCA said in legal filings that Northern Iron repeatedly submitted permit applications late and incomplete.
But that process will take a long time, with a hearing before the Minnesota Court of Administrative Hearings scheduled for Sept. 6. In the meantime, residents of the diverse, working-class neighborhood around the foundry have become increasingly aware of and anxious about pollution from the foundry.
Her, who was elected last November, told residents she has met with community members, the MPCA and Northern Iron about the issue. Northern Iron has operated in the neighborhood for over 100 years and employs roughly 77 people.
Her was invited to a listening session about Northern Iron with the Payne-Phalen Community Council Tuesday.
“I’ve encouraged them (Northern Iron) many times — work with the community, try to show up authentically and engage with them, and really hear their concerns, because I can’t fix something between people who are entrenched in their positions and their truths, whether it is your truth, whether it is their truth, they are equally true to each of you,” Her said.
She added that the city attorney has advised her to not take formal actions or issue statements about the foundry while the legal cases play out. St. Paul is not an official party in ongoing legal proceedings between Northern Iron and the MPCA.
But many residents feel the city has not been supportive enough of the neighborhood, and could take actions to help residents understand the conflict between the state and Northern Iron.
“Mayor, I know you’ve only been in office five months, not putting this on you, but I think now that you’re in charge of the city as our mayor, the city has an obligation to inform the residents of the East Side,” said resident Kyle Dekker. “They inform me when I’m late on my water bill, right? They inform me when my grass is too long. Why can’t they inform me when an industrial polluter is in the neighborhood, poisoning the kids of the schools, poisoning our gardens, poisoning our residents?”
Northern Iron’s conflict with state regulators began in 2022, when MPCA inspectors noticed the company had added new pieces of pollution-control equipment without notifying the agency or submitting a modified permit application. That resulted in a formal notice of violation, which was settled in a 2023 agreement that included a $41,500 fine for Northern Iron.
The following spring, the MPCA obtained new emission estimates that suggested Northern Iron was producing excessive amounts of lead and smog, and ordered Northern Iron to limit its operating hours to protect public health. The foundry sued the state in May 2024, and won an injunction that largely allowed it to resume normal production while installing new pollution-control equipment and applying for a new permit.
Her said multiple times that the city could face a defamation lawsuit from Northern Iron if city officials take a stance on the ongoing dispute. The foundry, through its legal team at Dorsey and Whitney, sued the MPCA for defamation in 2025, but a judge dismissed the case.
The mayor said her first home was on the East Side about half a mile from Northern Iron, and that she retains deep ties to the area. She called herself the community’s biggest advocate, and told the room that former Mayor Melvin Carter, who lost reelection to Her, had refused to meet with residents about the issue. Her said she wants to be a neutral arbiter between the foundry, the MPCA and East Side residents.
“I want to make sure that I’m listening to all the parties,” Her said.
Neighbors fearful of foundry
Foster, 23, spent most of her childhood blocks from the foundry on the East Side, and lives nearby today. She was diagnosed with asthma as a child, and says she knew many playmates and neighbors who had health issues at a young age. Now, she wonders how much living in the shadow of the foundry contributed to those problems.
“My entire life is there,” Foster said.
Neighbors told Her they have to constantly clean layers of dark dust off their windows, and that many children they know live with respiratory issues.
Marcy Morgan moved to the East Side four years ago, and has fallen in love with her neighborhood. But she’s worried about the pollution and its impact on her 2-year-old granddaughter who recently moved in with her.
”It’s super dirty. There’s kids all over the place. It’s really sad,” Morgan said. “It’s filthy — our windows are filthy.”
Brittney Bruce, a mother whose home is directly across the street from Northern Iron, told Her the foundry has no place in the future of St. Paul. Bruce filed a class-action lawsuit against Northern Iron last year alleging that pollution from the foundry was negatively impacting her family’s health and right to fully enjoy her property.
Bruce told Her that Northern Iron has not been working with the community in good faith, and that the city should prioritize its children.
“The growth of those children do not include lead, PM 2.5 or any of the other pollutants that are in my home,” Bruce said. “We can replace jobs, we can not replace people.”
