5. MPCA showed no urgency to address Northern Metal Recycling’s air pollution
Issue: It took the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) a decade (2009-2019) to address Northern Metal Recycling’s air pollution violations in North Minneapolis, in and beyond the Hawthorne neighborhood. More than 75 percent of Hawthorne residents are Black, Indigenous or other people of color. Its zip code had the highest asthma hospitalization rate of any in the state, the Star Tribune reported in 2017. Northern Metal began operations with what it called a “first-of-its-kind” pollution control system. By December, six months into operations, the MPCA’s initial air testing found air pollution above permitted levels. It began an enforcement action in January 2010.
MPCA’s shortcomings: Northern Metal told the agency it couldn’t meet its permit’s air quality standards. Instead of enforcing the permit, the MPCA allowed the company to amend it. The new permit allowed Northern Metal to shred entire auto hulks, something it couldn’t do under its original permit.
The MPCA continued to find air pollution violations. Northern Metal said it was unfairly being singled out and blamed nearby firms who also contributed to the neighborhood’s air pollution. In 2017, the MPCA and Northern Metal reached an agreement: the company would shut down by August 1, 2019 and pay $2.5 million in fines and other costs. Neighborhood leader Roxxanne O’Brien opposed the deal because it allowed the pollution to continue for two more years. MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine seemed more aligned with the polluter than the public, praising the company. “The company recognized the serious nature of its violations, and they’ve chosen to take the right steps,” he said in a media release. (At this time, the violations had been ongoing for seven years.) In 2019, as the closing date got close, a whistleblower alerted the state that Northern Metal had been falsifying pollution control records. Again, O’Brien opposed settling. She wanted to go to court for an evidentiary hearing, believing it would reveal evidence of Northern Metal’s deceptions and the MPCA’s poor oversight. The MPCA settled. The MPCA received much more money than the neighborhood did.
Links
Star Tribune: MPCA: Minneapolis metal shredder must shut down by Aug. 1 (July 23, 2019)
Twin Cities Daily Planet: Settlement with Northern Metal Recycling offers no reparations for Northside community (June 15, 2017)
Star Tribune: Negotiations to move Northern Metal from Minneapolis taking longer than expected (Feb. 13, 2017)
Twin Cities Daily Planet: Northside residents’ fight for clean air against Northern Metal Recycling reaches tipping point (Dec. 12, 2016)
Star Tribune: Pollution agency moves to stop operations at Minneapolis metal shredder (May 19, 2016)
Star Tribune: Mayor Hodges ‘outraged’ at heavy metal readings near Minneapolis metal shredder (March 24, 2016)
Star Tribune: Minneapolis shredder operator proposes move if MPCA backs off regulations (Dec. 2, 2015)
Star Tribune: MPCA-Northern Metal court showdown delayed as exceedances up (Aug. 31, 2015)
Star Tribune: State asks that scrapper be ordered to comply with air rules or close (July 29, 2015)
Healing Minnesota Stories three-part series on Northern Metal
Part I: Northern Metal Recycling: Another in the MPCA’s history of ignoring environmental concerns from communities of color (May 10, 2021)
Part II: Northern Metal Case Study: MPCA flopped its response to repeat air quality violations in North Minneapolis
Part III: Northern Metal Case Study: The MPCA’s claims to have held the company ‘accountable’ don’t hold up to scrutiny (May 12, 2021)