Judge orders Northern Iron to install new air monitors in ongoing court fight

A metal foundry on St. Paul’s East Side that is fighting a state order to limit its operations must install new equipment that monitors its pollution output, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro ordered Northern Iron to submit a new permit application to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) by September 13. But as part of that process, the judge ruled, the foundry may include projections of how much lead and particulate matter it could emit with new pollution control equipment the foundry plans to install. That equipment must be installed by November 18.

Wednesday’s ruling is the latest development in an ongoing court fight between Northern Iron and state regulators. The MPCA issued an administrative order in April requiring Northern Iron to limit its hours and reduce how much metal it melts in order to reduce pollution. In response, Northern Iron filed a request in court asking a judge to intervene and halt the state’s order.

Castro issued an order in July largely in favor of Northern Iron, suspending most of the state’s administrative order. The move drew criticism from residents of the East Side and lawmakers, who said they were worried about health impacts on nearby diverse neighborhoods.

On Wednesday, Castro issued the full memorandum explaining his July decision, and also issued an amended order based on arguments he heard from both sides at a contentious August 22 hearing.

The amended order requires Northern Iron to install two more regulatory grade air monitors by September 30 that measure large and fine particulate matter.

Brian Bell, an attorney representing Northern Iron, said at the August hearing that regulatory grade monitors cost about $5,000 to install and another $5,000 per month to maintain. He said the air around Northern Iron was healthy, and said the company shouldn’t have to spend more to prove it.

“They’re just trying to bleed us dry,” Bell said of the MPCA.

Assistant attorney general Colin O’Donovan, who is representing the MPCA, said at the August hearing that Northern Iron is using costs as an excuse to avoid complying with important state orders. Air modeling is much cheaper than continuous regulatory grade monitoring, O’Donovan said, and the state hasn’t seen any modeling from the company that shows that it is in compliance with air quality standards.

“They made their choice, and now they don’t want to pay,” O’Donovan said.

The air around Northern Iron has the highest rate of fine particulate matter pollution in St. Paul, O’Donovan said.

Northern Iron would have suffered irreparable harm and gone out of business if the MPCA’s limits on its business continued, Castro wrote in his Wednesday memorandum explaining his July ruling.

“The harm was not (and would not) be suffered merely by the business entity itself, but also by the highly skilled workers and their families who depend on the foundry for their livelihood,” Castro wrote.

Castro said he was “uncertain” about the public health harms the MPCA outlined as reasons to impose its April order. Spikes in poor air quality near Northern Iron seemed to correlate with similar fluctuations across the metro when looking at the PurpleAir network of air monitors, the judge wrote. Those monitors are not considered to be regulatory grade, but can help inform the court, he added.

The harm to Northern Iron by limiting its hours are “immediate” and “outweighs that of the public and is far more certain,” Castro wrote in his Wednesday memorandum.

Castro also agreed with Northern Iron’s arguments that the MPCA violated its 2023 stipulation agreement with the foundry when it issued its administrative order, because the agreement included provisions to not sue and dispute resolutions.

Castro’s July ruling allowed Northern Iron to mostly resume normal operations into November as it applied for a new permit with the MPCA..

The judge’s July order also required Northern Iron to rapidly install new pollution capture equipment, and to continue submitting monthly reports to the MPCA on its operations and the lead content of scrap metal it uses. He also allowed the company to melt up to 25 tons of metal per day, much more than the 10-ton limit imposed by MPCA’s administrative order. The judge’s decision Wednesday does not change the 25-ton limit.

The MPCA argued at August 22 and July 10 court hearings that Northern Iron has not submitted any projections that shows it can melt more than 10 tons per day without violating state and national air quality standards.

A review hearing in the case is scheduled for September 16.