As foundry closes in Minneapolis, attention will focus on what’s left behind

The impending shutdown of the Smith Foundry in south Minneapolis will end the smokestack emissions that have disturbed nearby homeowners, renters and day care providers for years. It will likely open a new chapter for the property, involving investigating whatever pollution remains after more than century of heavy industrial use.

The scope of the clean-up at the century-old foundry in the East Phillips neighborhood will depend on a number of factors, including what the foundry’s owners plan to do with the property and whether the buildings are torn down or re-used.

The company could decide to proactively enroll in the state’s Superfund program, starting an investigation into any contamination, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) officials said in a statement.

Regulators could add the site to the state’s Superfund list if they discover pollution and start any needed cleanup, the agency said.

In either case, “Smith Foundry is required to follow all applicable state and federal laws — including any and all necessary cleanup — as it shuts down its facility,” MPCA officials wrote. And the state will ensure the “protection of human health, welfare, and the environment.”

When reached by phone, a company spokesman said he couldn’t immediately say what owners plan to do with the property.

The company announced on Friday that it would close by Aug. 15, saying that increasingly stringent pollution regulations made it impossible to stay in business.

The decision came after months of heightened scrutiny of Smith Foundry by the neighborhood and pollution regulators. The EPA conducted a surprise inspection in May 2023 that revealed uncontrolled dust that could float out of open windows, broken equipment, and emissions the federal agency said broke air quality rules.

Since that inspection became widely known last fall, activists and East Phillips residents complained at public meetings that state and local regulators had ignored years of complaints. Neighbors of the foundry, and many families who sent their children to a day care nearby, organized into a persistent voice for shutting the business down.

The foundry was the last major industrial survivor on its corner of E. 28th Street. It shared a parking lot with a now-closed asphalt plant and sits across the street from the long-vacant and fenced Roof Depot site. Years ago, a pesticide manufacturer left behind an arsenic Superfund site that includes the Roof Depot site and required removing the soil from hundreds of East Phillips yards.

The first step to any cleanup will be finding out exactly what condition the site is in, said Evan Mulholland, the healthy community programs director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

“We don’t know a lot about what has happened at the foundry for the last 100 years,” he said. “It’s important for neighbors to know what’s in the building and what’s left over in the soil, especially if it’s a building that’s going to come down at some point.”

Mullholland said he and other advocates hope the state will make money available through its brownfields program to determine what cleanup needs to be done.