2. EPA stepped in on Smith Foundry, where the MPCA failed

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Written By Devon Cupery

Minneapolis Earth Day march in April 2023 next to Smith Foundry. Photo by Devon Young Cupery.

Issues: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did a surprise inspection of Smith Foundry in Minneapolis in the spring of 2023 and found air quality violations — issues the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) had not identified. Smith Foundry in the East Phillips neighborhood had been violating its air quality permit since 2018, emitting unsafe levels of lead and asthma-inducing fine particle pollution, the EPA said. East Phillips is a low-income and racially diverse neighborhood with high asthma rates. Nearby residents, bicyclists on the Midtown Greenway, and children at a nearby child care center have been breathing these pollutants for at least five years.

MPCA’s shortcomings: After the EPA report became public, MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler said that “the state has no evidence Smith Foundry sent elevated levels of lung-damaging fine particulate matter into the neighborhood,” the Star Tribune reported. Providing no further information, the comment undermined the EPA’s findings. In response to the EPA notice of violations, Smith Foundry did repairs, including replacing three major filters (called baghouses). An air test done after the pollution upgrades showed the company was complying with its permit. The MPCA issued a media release saying the foundry’s recent air pollution test results “verify” that the foundry “is not emitting more particulate matter than allowed by its permit.” The tests didn’t verify anything other than that pollution control improvements triggered by the EPA’s warnings reduced the air pollution. This likely would not have happened but for the EPA’s inspection.

Update: On June 4, 2024, the EPA reached a settlement agreement with Smith Foundry that would have allowed it to keep operating if it significantly scaled back operations and reduced air pollution. The EPA also fined Smith Foundry the seemingly small sum of $80,000 for violating the Clean Air Act over five years, from 2018-2023. (Most of those violations occurred under a previous owner.)

In the face of neighborhood pressure and diminished economic potential, Smith Foundry closed August 14, 2024.

In the aftermath, the MPCA tried to rehabilitate its image. It said it had “supported the EPA in its investigation into Smith Foundry,” according to its website. This is confusing. After the EPA report first became public, the MPCA seemed to contradict the EPA’s findings.

More importantly, the MPCA has yet to explain why it did not catch the foundry’s air quality violations, and do so much sooner than the EPA.

In one more insult to residents, the city did not notify them the foundry’s demolition would begin February 26, 2025. Residents were caught off guard. They were rightfully angry and concerned that demolition would disperse decades-old pollutants embedded in the building’s structures throughout the neighborhood, the Sahan Journal reported.

Doug Gurian-Sherman, a retired EPA scientist and East Philips resident, observed the demolition. “He said he saw a tall cloud of dark dust churned up the site,” the Journal reported. “He saw crews watering down the debris, which he said is good, but he remains concerned about the process. He was told there are no air monitors on site to measure pollution levels.”

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Devon Cupery
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