Community Demands Northern Iron Out of Saint Paul

Community Demands Northern Iron Out of Saint Paul

Community members are rallying in front of Northern Iron Tool and Machine - a Lawton Standard Company on July 13th, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. The rally was called by the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) in response to Northern Iron’s request for their air permit to be preserved. Whitney Wildman of the CJC characterized it as such: “Northern Iron is fighting to protect their permit to pollute Saint Paul. The community is fighting to protect the air we breathe, the homes we live in, and the neighborhood we raise our children in.”

On June 4th, 2025, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued a formal notice it began the process to revoke Northern Iron’s air permit. On June 30th, representatives of Northern Iron requested a contested case hearing where the matter will be reviewed by an Administrative Law Judge.

Northern Iron is a foundry in a residential neighborhood, within sight of homes, schools, gyms, and grocery stores. The foundry is an emitter of particulate matter, heavy metals such as lead, and other harmful pollutants. In 2024, the MPCA took action to limit Northern Iron’s operations because Northern Iron surpassed State and Federal legal limits on lead pollution as well as other toxic emissions. Northern Iron has a decades long history of installing unpermitted equipment without notifying MPCA.

“The community members living in East Side, Saint Paul have been suffering the health consequences of this for many years,” said Rachel Braaten of the CJC. “We are calling on the Pollution Control Agency to revoke Northern Iron’s permit. If Northern Iron refuses to abide by their permit, insisting community members shoulder the downstream costs of their pollution, then we say: Shut it down!”