A little over a year ago, Northern Metals wanted to expand the amount of pollution they could emit on the Northside of Minneapolis. Many people joined together to lead an effort to stop that, and with great support from many in the Northside community, we were able to greatly limit the amount of pollution allowed in their permit; and they agreed to comply with the Pollution Control Agency's restrictions and monitoring conditions. They claimed they wanted to be a good neighbor to the Northside. Their actions seem to be the exact opposite.
Unfortunately, they are already going back on those commitments, and apparently want to hide the amount of pollution from the public. They just filed a court action to enjoin the PCA from even having an ambient air monitor in the area to see why there are high spikes in the amount of dangerous small particulate matter in that area. Amazingly, they are trying to prevent an agency which exists to protect the public from pollution from actually doing its job. If the PCA can't monitor the air, we won’t know what pollution is in the area and we can't correct whatever business is polluting. Northern Metals has also been the one business which has not been very good about promptly responding fully to requests for information by the PCA.
Thankfully, the PCA recently announced that it had installed an additional air monitor just south of Northern Metals, between it and the aggregate company, so we’ll be able to better understand which facilities are creating pollution.
I will continue to monitor the situation and keep you updated as we move to ensure people on the Northside have clean air to breathe and water to drink.