Climate Justice Committee holds emergency bannering near St. Paul polluter Northern Iron

St. Paul, MN – Members of the Climate Justice Committee held signs and banners in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood on Saint Paul’s East Side, July 18, calling attention to the pollution from the nearby Northern Iron foundry.

Last week, a Minnesota judge ordered that Northern Iron would be allowed to resume operations as normal, striking down an administrative order from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) which came as a response to findings that the foundry violated its permitted emissions limits as well as the Clean Air Act.

This is the first action the CJC has held focusing on Northern Iron and the reception from passersby was overwhelmingly supportive, indicating that neighbors were already quite familiar with Northern Iron’s record of reckless pollution.

While thus far the CJC’s campaigns against pollution and environmental racism have been centered in East Phillips, the connection between these ongoing fights at Smith Foundry and Northern Iron are too direct to ignore. Even the attorneys for Northern Iron themselves made the link, arguing in court that the MPCA’s order was only due to the community outcry the agency faced for their failure to take decisive action against Smith. The company lawyers argued, “it has everything to do with what happened at Smith Foundry.”

Like East Phillips in Minneapolis, the neighborhood surrounding Northern Iron in Saint Paul is among the most diverse in the Twin Cities, and almost entirely working class. Just as is the case with Smith Foundry, it is plain to see that Northern Iron would never have been allowed to operate in a more affluent area; it is a cut and dry example of how pervasive environmental racism truly is in the state of Minnesota. Until Northern Iron, Smith Foundry, and all polluters are no longer allowed to poison our communities, the Climate Justice Committee is prepared to fight.

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