The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has begun the process of canceling the operating permit for a St. Paul metal foundry that employs some 80 United Steelworkers on the city’s East Side.

Officials with Lawton Standard, which owns the Northern Iron and Machine foundry in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, received notice from the MPCA on Wednesday that the company had officially run afoul of the regulatory agency, which has sought for years to enforce deeper controls over emissions and heavily reduce foundry production.

“After prolonged attempts to get necessary information from Northern Iron, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency today took the first steps to revoke the company’s operating permit,” reads a written statement from the MPCA. “We have repeatedly requested information required under state law for us to issue a permit that would allow Northern Iron to operate in a way that protects human health and the environment. … We do not have reasonable assurance that the company can comply with a permit.”Revocation process

The permit revocation is not immediate.

The MPCA described it as a “rare and lengthy process” that likely will entail a contested case hearing before an administrative law judge. The foundry, which dates to 1906, is allowed to operate throughout that process.

The MPCA fined Northern Iron $41,500 in 2023 for out-of-date pollution control equipment, as well as equipment updated without a permit. A more recent MPCA investigation tested soot collecting on homes near the foundry and found toxic heavy metals such as lead, chromium and manganese, which residents in a recent legal action have described as evidence it originated from the Forest Street metal plant.

Calling the company’s PurpleAir testing equipment outdated, the MPCA issued an April 2024 order limiting Northern Iron’s material processing to 10 tons per day, or roughly a third of normal production. That limit held until it was lifted by a July 2024 decision from Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro.

Company responds

Company officials maintain their monitors show dust particles and lead levels to be well within state standards, and that the MPCA has misinterpreted the data.

In a written statement Wednesday, they said revoking their existing operating permit without processing the company’s new permit application is “unprecedented” and “not supported by any evidence or data from extensive environmental monitoring of the facility.”

The MPCA “has officially determined that it wants to shut down a business, lay off people, and needlessly scare the community by ignoring facts, data, and a judge’s decisions,” they wrote. “The MPCA is not following the rule of law as a regulator, which is unacceptable.”

In March, residents from the Payne-Phalen neighborhood filed a class action lawsuit against the foundry owners in Ramsey County District Court, claiming emissions have lowered their home values, damaged property and left them dealing with soot and dust on their houses.

Lawton Standard, which is based in DePere, Wis., and maintains foundries in six states, purchased the Northern Iron foundry in August 2022. The foundry makes casings and custom metal parts for national clients.