The MPCA lacks a sense of urgency in addressing high levels of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and other negative impacts in East Phillips
By KAREN CLARK AND H. LYNN ADELSMAN
As community members continue to demand Smith Foundry be shut down due to toxic emissions and continue to show up at meetings where the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) says it’s listening and cares, the strong odor continues.
On its website, the MPCA states: “The MPCA continues to focus on improving air quality in overburdened communities and to work toward environmental justice.”
However, in February 2024, Círculo de Amigos staff called to report the exposure of children at the child care center to a strong odor of toxic emissions, but no one from the MPCA responded with a site visit. There is no clear direction for what residents can do, or what MPCA is actively doing to reduce harmful exposures to residents in East Phillips, Little Earth, and the surrounding communities. Use of an asthma inhaler due to heavy pollution should not be the norm, nor should it be an acceptable way of life for anyone in Minneapolis.
With no response other than claiming that there are no significant air quality issues or negative health effects originating at Smith Foundry, the MPCA continues to ignore its mandate, asking the community to be patient as they study and host more meetings.
The 2008 Clark-Bergin CUMULATIVE IMPACT LAW states,
The agency may not issue a permit to a facility without analyzing and considering the cumulative levels and effects of past and current environmental pollution from all sources on the environment and residents of the geographic area within which the facility’s emissions are likely to be deposited.
In 2008, the Clark-Berglin Cumulative Impact Legislation was created to improve air quality and community health, yet the MPCAs tells East Phillips residents that after analysis and response, there’s no legal requirement to do anything differently. (See sidebar for a definition of Clark-Bergin Law). The residents of East Phillips and South Minneapolis want to know the following:
- What is the MPCA’s analysis and response in regards to the 2008 cumulative impact law for both the Smith Foundry stack and the whole foundry? While there is no charge for MPCA to follow any specific action given their mission of “focusing on improving air quality in overburdened communities,” what CAN the community expect from them? When the analysis is done, will the public have access to it, and will a response include not only Smith Foundry, but also the names of other nearby facilities considered in the community-wide cumulative impact study? And will there be any action related to the analysis?
- In 1996, Bituminous Roadways roadways received a non-expiring “Air Emission Registration Permit” given to businesses with “low levels of actual emissions,” which is why they haven’t undergone their own individual cumulative impact analysis. But given the black carbon emissions and odors they produce, will MPCA consider revoking that non-expiring permit? And what if Bituminous Roadway does not close as expected, given the interest it has shown in the Cedar Avenue redesign, which won’t be complete until 2026, a year after the community has been told they will leave?
For more than a decade and a half the MPCA has ignored, not reported on, or not acted upon cumulative impact analyses as required by the 2008 state law protecting this environmental justice neighborhood. The MPCA has enforced the law in other parts of the community, but not in East Phillips, where residents who are low-income, Indigenous and people of color fought so hard to successfully pass it. If Smith Foundry and Bituminous Roadways were located outside East Phillips, wouldn’t they, long ago, have been shut down? MPCA has the emergency powers to do that right now.
