When Ismahan Alasow moved to St. Paul’s East Side five years ago, her children were healthy.
Ismahan, 36, rents a home in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood across the street from Northern Iron, a metal foundry embroiled in a legal dispute with state regulators over accusations of excessive pollution. She has six children, and moved to St. Paul from the suburbs when her apartment complex said the family was too large for the unit.
She’d heard good things about St. Paul, but when she moved in she noticed a layer of dust on her windows. Despite constant cleaning, the problem persisted. Her children started to sneeze a lot, and developed allergies, she said. Neighbors she was friendly with had similar complaints and moved away. Ismahan knew there was a factory across the street, but only learned more about what it produces and emits in the past year as the legal case developed. She plans to move in February when her lease ends.
“Right now, I have a lot of worry about this area. I want to run away from here,” Ismahan told Sahan Journal through a translator.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) fined Northern Iron $41,500 in October 2023 for pollution violations, and ordered the foundry to reduce its operational hours in April 2024 after new pollution estimates showed the facility was likely emitting dangerous amounts of lead and smog.
The foundry responded by suing the MPCA, and in July 2024 Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo 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.
Lawyers representing the state and Northern Iron remain engaged in court proceedings, which continued at a Tuesday hearing focused on arguments over evidence known as discovery. The next hearing is scheduled for February 12.
Legal case continues
Castro on Tuesday ordered Northern Iron, owned by the Wisconsin-based firm Lawton Standard, to bring Chief Executive Officer Alex Lawton and Chief Administrative Officer Tierney Grutza to St. Paul for in-person depositions. Lawyers representing Northern Iron asked for the depositions to take place online or in Wisconsin.
Grutza, the chief administrative officer, emailed the environmental consulting firm U.S. Compliance in December 2023 about emission levels at the foundry. As part of Northern Iron’s 2023 agreement with the MPCA, the foundry hired other consultants to perform emissions testing and conduct scientific pollution estimates known as modeling, which showed excessive amounts, according to court documents. The company wanted a second opinion, Grutza wrote.
“The results are concerning and much higher than any of us would expect,” Grutza wrote in her email to U.S. Compliance.
The MPCA subpoenaed communication and documents between Northern Iron and U.S. Compliance in October. Attorneys for Northern Iron objected, claiming the documents should be immune. Jennifer Coates, a lawyer from Dorsey and Whitney representing Northern Iron, said U.S. Compliance was hired as an expert by a second law firm hired by the company.
Castro on Tuesday ordered Northern Iron to submit a document showing when U.S. Compliance was hired to determine if or how much of their communication with the foundry could be considered private.
Northern Iron is also seeking relief from a $219,000 state fine imposed on the foundry, mostly for submitting its new permit application late. As part of the 2023 stipulation agreement between the MPCA and the foundry, Northern Iron agreed to submit a permit application by April 2024. The company did not submit the application until September 2024 following a deadline issued by the court.
The MPCA contends that the 2023 agreement is binding, and that the agency was within its rights as a regulator to impose a $1,000 per day late fee for the application. Assistant Attorney General Ryan Petty argued that the court had no authority over the agreement and that Northern Iron would have to appeal the fine in a separate suit.
Coates called the fine “bullying” and said that Northern Iron would essentially admit fault if it paid the fine.
“This is not the way to go through a lawsuit in good faith,” Coates said.
Castro did not make an order about the penalty, but said it seemed to him that “the MPCA has engaged in quite a bit of bullying in this case.”
Neighbors concerned as operations continue
Northern Iron continues to operate at normal levels and has installed new pollution control equipment. The facility submitted an application for a new state permit in September 2024, and the MPCA plans to have a draft of the permit ready for review by March 5, according to a letter filed in district court.
The MPCA is still waiting for Northern Iron to submit a final plan to test the pollutants emerging from the foundry and told the company there will be a public comment period on the permit starting in April. The final permit is likely to be issued in July, according to the letter.
Melissa Lorentz, an environmental lawyer who lives near the foundry, has been working to help her neighbors understand the legal case. Northern Iron is delaying proceedings, she said, and is trying to circumvent the normal order of obtaining a permit.
“The thing to remember is that Northern Iron has been operating illegally for years now,” Lorentz said.
On December 19, a fire ignited in a newly installed piece of pollution control equipment at the foundry, according to court documents and the St. Paul Fire Department. The fire was contained. Representatives for Northern Iron did not respond to a request for comment about the fire.
Neighbors have submitted complaints about noise and soot from Northern Iron, according to court documents filed by the MPCA. The agency is investigating those complaints, the documents said.
Ismahan, the mother of six who lives across the street from Northern Iron, said the dust on and around her home is persistent. No matter what happens in the legal case, she thinks the damage has been done to her family.
“If they close or don’t close, I’m already affected. My kids are sick,” Ismahan said.
