A court case between the state and a St. Paul metal foundry accused of excessive pollution is on pause with orders that the company complete pollution testing and control measures.
Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro ordered a stay Friday in the case between Northern Iron and Machine and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to allow the state to evaluate the foundry’s latest permit application. The two sides continue to disagree about key points in the case, and the state remains concerned about pollutants coming from the foundry.
“I don’t know if the MPCA and Northern Iron can even agree on the day of the week,” Jennifer Coates, an attorney representing Northern Iron, said during a hearing in the case Friday.
Castro’s order requires Northern Iron to implement a plan to contain all “fugitive emissions” — pollutants escaping the building through leaks and cracks — in the foundry, and to complete tests to certify the exact nature and amount of pollutants emerging from its smokestacks. The stay will allow the MPCA to review a new air permit application from Northern Iron, and present it to community residents for a public comment period that could begin in April.
“The MPCA is committed to write (sic) a permit that will protect the community from emissions from the facility and engaging with community to understand the needs and priorities of people who live near the facility,” the agency wrote in a Friday update for residents of the Payne-Phalen neighborhood.
The case is set to return to court on May 23.
The MPCA fined Northern Iron $41,500 in October 2023 for pollution violations. The agency also ordered the foundry to reduce its operational hours in April 2024 after new pollution estimates showed that the facility was likely emitting dangerous amounts of lead and smog.
The foundry responded by suing the MPCA, and in July 2024, Castro issued a temporary injunction largely allowing the facility to resume normal operations while installing new pollution control equipment and applying for a new state permit.
“The best outcome here, of course, is that MPCA is satisfied with the production that’s occurring at Northern Iron, Northern Iron is able to operate and keep those jobs going, and we keep the community safe. So, let’s get this done,” Castro said at a Feb. 12 hearing.
The company celebrated the stay Castro granted Friday, and said it wants a cooperative working relationship with regulators.
“Northern Iron is pleased with MPCA’s decision to stay the legal proceedings and allow us to keep these jobs in St Paul. We have invested in this business so that we can continue to be a good neighbor and employer,” said a statement issued by a public relations firm representing the foundry.
‘Untenable’
What an eventual resolution will look like remains unclear, with court filings revealing the MPCA is unsatisfied with the permit Northern Iron has submitted. State regulators say the facility has yet to demonstrate that it can fully operate without violating national air quality standards.
Northern Iron’s attorneys continue to complain about MPCA requirements that mandate daily checks on pollution control equipment, and faster reporting of failures to regulators. The company contends it should not have to check pollution control equipment on holidays and weekends, though it does operate on Sundays.
“We have not seen a lot of grace from the MPCA,” Brian Bell, an attorney for Northern Iron, said at a Feb. 12 hearing.
The state says Northern Iron submitted its permit application and modeling at the end of January, four months after a court-imposed deadline. That delayed the state’s ability to review the permit, according to a Feb. 19 motion filed by the state.
“The situation is untenable, not productive and was never intended to have gone on this long,” Assistant Attorney General Ryan Petty wrote in the motion.
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Castro on Friday expressed desire for the two sides to stop throwing accusations at each other.
“I would like a reduction in the mud-slinging, that would be helpful,” Castro said.
Northern Iron is refusing to comply with basic requirements from the MPCA that would help neighbors, according to Melissa Lorentz, an environmental lawyer who lives near the foundry and is helping residents track the case. Lorentz does not represent the MPCA or Northern Iron.
“Northern Iron is acting as its own regulator here,” Lorentz said.
‘Not a healthy situation’
The amount of pollution coming from the foundry and how well that pollution is being contained continues to be the central disagreement in the case.
Residents around Northern Iron submitted complaints to the MPCA about soot coating their homes and vehicles. The agency collected samples of that soot and determined that Northern Iron is likely the source. The soot contained heavy metals, including lead, cobalt and manganese, according to court documents.
The MPCA says the findings show that Northern Iron is not containing stray emissions from its facility, which was required by the agency’s administrative order issued in April 2024. Northern Iron is submitting pollution estimates for its permit application that assumes stray emissions are not exiting the foundry, according to the MPCA.
Northern Iron conducted a test on Feb. 13 to measure how well it was containing emissions. Those results have not been disclosed in court documents or hearings. When that test was conducted, the MPCA learned that Northern Iron had hired a consultant to analyze emission containment in November 2024, according to court filings.
The state and company are contesting whether notes from the November consultation should be disclosed, but did not reach an agreement Friday.
Industrial facilities can decrease emissions by capturing more stray pollutants inside their buildings and preventing those pollutants from getting outside through leaks, according to Greg Pratt, who worked at the MPCA for 32 years and is an adjunct professor of environmental health at the University of Minnesota.
“A well-maintained facility can reduce, almost to the point of eliminating, fugitive air emissions,” Pratt said.
It’s hard to precisely attribute adverse health impacts to specific facilities, but foundries like Northern Iron create emissions with negative effects, he said.
Pratt is an expert in air modeling, the science used by regulators to project polluting emissions and the central disagreement in the case between Northern Iron and the MPCA.
The state says Northern Iron has yet to produce modeling that shows it can operate without exceeding national pollution standards.
“It’s not a healthy situation,” Pratt said.
Industrial facilities have a number of options for reducing their impact on neighbors’ health, Pratt said, adding that the facility could reduce its hours, which is what the MPCA ordered Northern Iron to do last year.
New pollution control equipment, which has been installed at Northern Iron throughout the case, is another way to reduce emissions. Industrial plants can also increase dispersion of emissions by extending the stack or chimney that carries pollutants out of a facility. The higher up those emissions are released, the less impact they have on the ground, Pratt said.
