Under pressure to curb pollution, Minneapolis foundry announces closure

Smith Foundry will close next month after more than a century in south Minneapolis. The company says increasingly stringent pollution regulations are making it impossible to stay in business.

The announcement will result in job losses but will also bring relief to residents of the diverse, low-income East Phillips neighborhood, which has complained for years about noxious and potentially toxic emissions from the plant.

The company announced the closure in a statement Friday to the Star Tribune. Parts of the plant, including the furnace, were to close the same day, while the rest will close by Aug. 15.

“Unfortunately, our employees and their families will be the ones who will feel the brunt of this closure, which I deeply regret. I wish we could have done more,” Adolpho Quiroga, president of the foundry, said in a statement. Smith previously said it had about 50 employees.

In his statement, Quiroga blamed the closure on “arbitrary and opaque” requirements from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The agency is working to update Smith’s emissions permit.

When current owner Zynik Capital bought the foundry in 2022, “the MPCA approved the transfer of the existing air emissions permit without a single question and without expressing any concerns. They never informed us that they had any concerns about the foundry, its operations or its existence in the area,” Quiroga wrote.

The agency responded that it expects all Minnesota businesses to comply with state environmental laws.

“Smith Foundry is located in a part of the state that requires additional information (to) demonstrate that the company can operate while meeting air quality standards,” the MPCA said in a statement Friday. It added that the company informed the agency it planned to close the plant “instead of providing the information necessary to obtain an air emissions permit.”

The announcement comes after months of heightened scrutiny of Smith Foundry by the neighborhood and pollution regulators. It began with a surprise inspection by the EPA in May 2023 and then escalated last fall when the neighborhood learned that inspectors had found uncontrolled dust that could billow from open windows, broken equipment and emissions that the federal agency said violated air quality regulations.

In the months that followed, the frustrations of activists and East Phillips residents spilled out into public meetings, as many said state and local regulators ignored years of complaints. The MPCA promised to expedite the issuance of a new and more stringent emissions permit for the plant.

The foundry’s neighbours, as well as many families who sent their children to a nearby kindergarten, organised themselves to persistently demand the complete closure of the plant.

“It’s such a relief and super satisfying to hear” that the foundry is closing, said Tania Rivera Perez, program manager for Circulo de Amigos Childcare. “For a while, it seemed like it was going to be impossible.”

She added that community organizing efforts should now focus on workers who may soon be out of work.

The foundry reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, announced in June, that allows it to continue some of its operations, including engineering, design and metal finishing work for iron components cast elsewhere.

Under the agreement, the company agreed to close its central furnace and foundry operations. It was given one year to do so. Even then, many area residents were concerned about what pollution might still result from those operations and how long that would be allowed under the settlement.

Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez, who represents the area, said Friday he was “very excited about Phillips’ neighborhoods.”

“They continue to push for change in our community and continue to advocate for clean air. We need to make sure that all of these polluters are gone,” he said.

Steve Sandberg, a board member of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, admitted he was skeptical about the foundry’s ability to transform its operations as required by the EPA agreement.

“This just shouldn’t happen in a residential area and it took too long, but I’m glad today is the day,” he said.

The foundry has been operating at 1855 E. 28th St. in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis for about a century. Its current owner, Canadian firm Zynik Capital, bought the company in 2022.

“We regret that we were unable to operate in Minnesota. However, in the future, we will seek out other states and jurisdictions that reflect our mission of improving the lives of everyone we meet and that want responsible companies and good, well-paying jobs in their communities,” a Zynik spokesman said in a statement from the foundry.

Reporter Dave Orrick contributed to this article.