When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) settled a pollution violation case against a St. Paul foundry on Sept. 10, many neighbors felt disappointment.
St. Paul Brass Foundry was accused of failing to maintain properly functioning pollution control equipment, which likely resulted in excessive emissions in the Frogtown neighborhood, and recordkeeping violations after a surprise EPA inspection in 2022.
The EPA issued violations to the foundry in 2023, but most neighbors didn’t learn of the issues until a Sahan Journal article in February 2024. The Frogtown Neighborhood Association tried to seek more information from regulators and worked with local scientists to understand the risks posed by the foundry, but found the experience frustrating.
The settlement did not impose a fine on St. Paul Brass, which installed new pollution control equipment valued at $65,000, according to the EPA. The foundry must also limit lead level content in the metals it melts to make its products.
Neighbors gathered after the settlement was announced to discuss the facility, learn about its pollution and form a plan to fight for a cleaner environment.
“We’re going to try to demand accountability,” said Danielle Swift, an organizer with the Frogtown Neighborhood Association.
A quiet place
St. Paul Brass claims to be the longest operating manufacturer in Minnesota; it started as a blacksmith shop in the 1800s. The current foundry, which melts brass, aluminum and other metals to create commercial and military products, has been in operation on W. Minnehaha Avenue since the 1950s.
The foundry is adjacent to Frogtown Park and Farm, across the street from a mosque and down the hill from a child care center. It was the fourth largest source of lead and the seventh largest source of smog, known as particulate matter, in Ramsey County in 2023, according to data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). But many in the neighborhood weren’t aware of the foundry and what it does.
“I didn’t know I lived so close to a pollution generator,” Nehemiah Dacres, 38, told Sahan Journal at the meeting.
Frogtown resident Shoua Salas said that she noticed foul-smelling air while mowing her lawn after moving to the area from the East Side of St. Paul.
“It was hard to breathe,” she said.
St. Paul Brass is located in an otherwise residential neighborhood, a legacy of the discriminatory housing practice known as redlining that concentrated people of color in industrial areas. The surrounding area is considered an environmental justice community by the state due to its racial diversity and high levels of poverty.
“Their production is affecting us, but it’s not necessarily serving us,” Swift said.
Local scientists Julia Brokaw and Mateo Frumholtz are working to help their neighbors understand the pollution emitted by St. Paul Brass. The EPA, when it announced the settlement, said the agency had monitored the air by the site for six months in 2024 and found it to be in compliance with national standards for lead emissions.
“It’s a little bit more complicated than that,” Brokaw said.
Brokaw went through the data given to the Frogtown Neighborhood Association to examine lead output from the facility, and showed that while the average daily levels were below national standards, pollution spiked at various times. She also reminded the group that there is no safe level of lead pollution, which the EPA states on its website.
Frumholtz, who studies public health at the University of Minnesota, has been examining data on health risks in the neighborhood. Many of the areas with the highest added cancer risks in Minnesota border major highways like Interstates 94 and 35, he said, but the neighborhood near St. Paul Brass is alarming.
“It is located in one of the block groups that has one of the highest concentrations of cancer risks,” he said.
Value of enforcement
Dacres, Salas and other neighbors who attended the meeting were surprised the foundry didn’t receive a fine as part of the settlement. When Smith Foundry in south Minneapolis was issued EPA violations after a similar surprise inspection in 2023, regulators slapped the business with an $80,000 fine and prohibited it from melting metal going forward. Smith Foundry closed in August 2024, and the facility was demolished this year.
Swift thinks the lack of fines is likely the result of cuts to the EPA made by President Donald Trump’s administration. The EPA cut about one fourth of its staff and has halted work focused on environmental justice.
David Konisky, a professor at Indiana University who focuses on environmental justice and regulation, said it’s not uncommon to see shifts in enforcement cases when administrations change.
Environmental enforcement is discretionary, Konisky said, and it can be hard to know what a settlement will look like. There is generally a commitment to correct issues and required actions for violators, but the results vary widely.
“There is no formula, there is no set course of action,” he said.
Often violations and settlements are negotiated between regulators and companies, Konisky said, and the public is not involved in those deliberations.
“I think that is a common sentiment that people have about environmental enforcement — that it’s not a very transparent or public process,” he said.
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The Trump administration has moved away from using supplemental environmental projects, which required violators to build something of value in their community after a settlement. Even when settlements do have fines, the figures are rarely crippling to the violating party, Konisky said.
Environmental enforcement has tangible benefits for communities, Konisky said. Research shows that facilities follow rules more closely after inspections and violations, and that it has a spillover effect on other regulated sites in a community.
“It’s an effective way to change the behavior of polluters,” he said.
Public process
The EPA settlement at St. Paul Brass does open a window for the public to speak up about the foundry. The new pollution control equipment installed by St. Paul Brass will require it to apply for a new state permit, a process that will include public hearings.
St. Paul Brass has 180 days to apply for the permit from the Sept. 10 order, the MPCA told Sahan Journal. It has not yet submitted the application.
The MPCA installed a new air monitor at the nearby Wilder Foundation Child Development Center in June. The agency plans to post initial data from that monitor on its website in the coming weeks. The EPA views the monitor as part of the ongoing enforcement at the facility.
“We’re working closely with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to ensure St. Paul residents can breathe safely. This settlement will significantly reduce emissions and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will monitor air quality in the area going forward,” EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel said in a written statement.
The MPCA received additional state funding to focus on pollution and enforcement in environmental justice areas in 2024 following public outcry over the lack of state oversight at Smith Foundry in Minneapolis.
Federal pollution enforcement is relatively rare, Konisky said and has been declining for years. State agencies are on the frontlines and can pay more attention to facilities in their backyards.
“States have an opportunity to focus more on disparities and compliance in marginalized communities,” he said.
