When Northern Iron and Machine stopped melting metal at the end of September, residents of St. Paul’s East Side breathed a sigh of relief.
The century-old foundry located off Phalen Boulevard abruptly announced plans to close in July in the midst of a yearslong legal fight with state regulators and neighbors who say the factory’s pollution negatively impacted their health and well-being.
The company plans to close the factory by the end of the year; Northern Iron laid off 50 employees and ended foundry production Oct. 1, according to a notice filed with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
“It’s been a pretty big celebration,” St. Paul resident Mike Hirabayashi told Sahan Journal.
Hirabayashi joined dozens of East Siders and environmental justice advocates around the Twin Cities at a Oct. 3 party commemorating the end of metal melting at Northern Iron, which in 2024 was the leading industrial source of smog and lead pollution in Ramsey County, according to state data.
They ate food from local restaurants and painted pumpkins with their children at the Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center. The mood was jovial, but determined, with participants making plans to continue the fight for environmental justice across the city.
St. Paul Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who represents part of the East Side, praised neighbors for their steadfast advocacy.
“It only happened because you said no,” Johnson said.
The St. Paul City Council could have a role to play in the site’s future. Northern Iron’s address is currently zoned for general industrial use. Although any new facility proposed there would be subjected to a rigorous environmental review through the state’s new cumulative impact law aimed at protecting diverse, historically polluted neighborhoods like the East Side, neighbors say they want to see changes.
Vivian Tran, executive director of the Payne-Phalen Community Council, said neighbors are happy to see the foundry close.
“We’re really excited, very relieved,” she said. “We’ve been talking about zoning and the future.”
There are more environmental justice issues on the East Side, Tran said. The struggle around Northern Iron and the community support networks established during Operation Metro Surge helped form stronger bonds in the neighborhood that will be useful in the future, she said.
“The fight is not over, it just shifts into the next phase,” Danielle Swift, an East Side resident, told Sahan Journal.
Swift works across town for the Frogtown Neighborhood Association, which has been organizing residents against another urban foundry, St. Paul Brass and Aluminum. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found pollution violations at St. Paul Brass in 2022, and community members have worked to obtain and interpret reams of data with the help of local scientists.
The EPA settled with St. Paul Brass last September in a deal that required the foundry to install new pollution-control equipment, but lacked a fine. Seeing Northern Iron close after years of neighborhood organizing offers a glimmer of hope, Swift said.
“It’s inspiring when you see someone doing something that seems impossible,” she said.
The inspiration is being felt citywide. Residents of the industrial Southport neighborhood on St. Paul’s West Side along the Mississippi River attended the celebration at Indigenous Roots and encouraged East Siders to join their campaign to improve air quality.
Sofia Gonzalez, a Southport resident, said she has become more aware of pollution in her neighborhood in recent years and is glad that East Side residents get relief.
“It’s really good for the community,” Gonzalez said.
Permit revocation case continues
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) fined Northern Iron $40,000 in 2022 for failing to inform regulators about changes to pollution control equipment over several years, which limited regulators’ ability to know how much it was emitting.
That fine kicked off a yearslong fight between the state and foundry, which was purchased that year by Lawton Standard. The company sued the state in April 2024 after the MPCA ordered it to reduce operational hours, citing pollution estimates that suggested the factory was emitting high levels of lead and smog.
In June, the MPCA took the rare step of attempting to revoke Northern Iron’s operations permit. Neighbors packed a July hearing at the Court of Administrative Hearings where the company’s legal team asked for the case to be dismissed.
Last month, Judge Megan McKenzie denied that motion, and the case continues. The next hearing is scheduled for March 1, after the foundry is currently scheduled to close.
