An iron foundry in St. Paul now has 30 days to remediate lead and air violations after new data showed the foundry is continuing to pollute the air.

This week, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued an order for the Northern Iron and Machine Foundry in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood. The order detailed new information on lead and air pollution and required the foundry to amend the issue within 30 days, according to the MPCA.

The order comes after the MPCA fined the foundry $41,500 in October 2023 for 15 years of air quality violations, which the agency says the foundry never addressed.

“We need to find out what’s happening to the children living in the area,” says Patricia Enstad, who lives nearby. “Is it safe to have a foundry in a residential neighborhood?”

“Look, we’re concerned. We want to know what’s going on,” says Rebecca Nelson, the board president of the Payne-Phalen Community Council. “When you’re breathing in things that are poison, that aren’t good for you, it affects your health systems.”

A spokesperson for the MPCA said the agency received new air emission modeling in February, which shows the foundry is emitting lead and particulate matter at levels “above national ambient air quality standards.”

“The MPCA has been working with the new owners of Northern Iron to address these likely exceedances and is requiring the company to reduce its emissions of lead and particulate matter to meet air quality standards within 30 days. In addition, the agency has installed neighborhood air monitors to measure actual lead and particulate matter in the air.  

The MPCA will host a community meeting in May to provide the neighborhood with more updates.”

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

In a statement, Northern Iron and Machine said it “is committed to working with MPCA and the entire community through this process.”

“Our foundry provides high-quality, U.S.-made products that also support good-paying, including union, jobs.  We also understand and respect the responsibility of being a responsive and accountable part of this important part of St. Paul.

“Our team has been working to address concerns about emissions since we purchased this important business only a short time ago. This also includes making plans for significant investments to upgrade the facility’s environmental controls based on the very new data our company and the MPCA are working with.

“We believe this foundry can continue to be a valued contributor to the economic vitality of St. Paul and be a leader for the environment as part of our company’s commitment to the environment and the communities where our businesses operate.”

Northern Iron and Machine

Lawton Standard, a Wisconsin company that owns multiple foundries across the country, bought Northern Iron in August 2022.

“It means we could be breathing stuff we shouldn’t be breathing,” says Ramona Banks, who’s lived in the neighborhood for nearly three decades while raising two children. “Nobody can ever tell you what level is safe, you can’t. There’s no such thing. The lead shouldn’t be there, you shouldn’t be breathing it.”

“We just want accountability. We just want to know what they’re going to do about it, going forward to alleviate these problems,” Nelson says. “Will they be shutting down production then, or will they be fixing the emissions that are coming out, and who are they going to be accountable to?”