Hazardous Air Pollution Allowed to Continue in East Phillips

By KAREN CLARK, Former MN State Rep. and H. LYNN ADELSMAN

November 10th, the night after celebrating the victory of raising $3.7 million (which the City demanded East Phillips Neighborhood pay in order to sign the purchase agreement for the Roof Depot site) neighbors and allies rallied, temporarily closing E. 28th St. to demand that Smith Foundry be shut down. Smith Foundry is located across 28th Street from the former Roof Depot site.
The Neighborhood learned that a surprise U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation found flagrant air pollution safety violations at Smith Foundry which endangers both workers and residents’ health. That inspection happened in May, but residents just found out about the findings in November.
The MN Pollution Control Agency did not inform residents even though the federal EPA report called for penalties – including possible civil or criminal charges against the Foundry. So East Phillip’s struggle for environmental justice, basic public health protections, widens and grows more urgent. Expect this Neighborhood to continue their environmental justice fight!

Accountability and No Comment
At the very least, the MPCA needs to be held accountable, to commit to a public awareness campaign to alert residents, daycares, and schools during high levels of unsafe air quality on the same day it’s happening; similar to the 2023 high smoke alerts from wildfires.… Read the rest “Hazardous Air Pollution Allowed to Continue in East Phillips”