Lawmakers grant Minnesota more power to close down repeat polluters

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a suite of new powers to crack down on the most severe polluters, after a change in state law inspired by recent cases where regulators said the law had tied their hands.

The previous standard for an emergency shutdown of a polluting site was “imminent and substantial danger to the health and welfare of the people of the state.” Agency leaders told lawmakers that was too high a threshold.

Starting on July 1, MPCA can act when it has proof a company has falsified records, a history of violating the terms of a settlement, “chronic or substantial” violations of a permit, or is operating without a permit. Regulators could take several actions if one of those conditions are met, including revoking a business’s permit or forcing it to stop operating.

“Whether it’s Water Gremlin or Smith Foundry, we always look to see if we need new tools to protect communities and hold polluters accountable. This change will help MPCA do both,” Claire Lancaster, a spokeswoman for Gov. Tim Walz, said in an email about the new law.

Water Gremlin, a company in White Bear Township that produced fishing tackle and electric battery terminals, was fined $4.5 million in 2019 and found to have been violating air pollution rules back to 2002. A report by Minnesota’s Legislative Auditor later found that the agency missed opportunities to act before 2019.

Northern Metals operated a metal shredder in north Minneapolis that was found to have faked its emissions records after a whistleblower came forward to MPCA. That company has since relocated its operations to Becker, and is suing state regulators over what it calls unequal enforcement of pollution laws in the metal shredding industry.

More recently, residents near Smith Foundry, in south Minneapolis, accused MPCA of failing to respond adequately to years of complaints of pollution and bad smells. The EPA found in its own investigation that the business was breaking pollution rules, and last week reached a settlement with the company to shut down its casting operations over the next 12 months.

After EPA’s investigation became public late last year, many residents and activists around the foundry repeatedly asked the state to shut it down or even order a temporary pause in operations. In one community meeting, an agency official responded that MPCA didn’t have the evidence to win a legal argument for a shutdown.

Evan Mulholland, an attorney with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said the law change granted broad authority to the agency commissioner — but whether it will be used is the question.

“The change doesn’t require the MPCA to act in a certain instance,” he said. “It’s really up to the commissioner,” and the evidence regulators collect.

Becky Lentz, a spokeswoman for MPCA, wrote in an email that “Though the legislature has provided the agency stronger tools to act quickly in certain situations, the MPCA must still investigate and gather factual evidence that warrants taking action.”

It’s likely the revised law will end up in court. Tony Kwilas of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce testified before lawmakers this spring that the new law would likely spur litigation that would waste time and money for private companies and for the state.

Legislators also granted MPCA more than $5 million in funding in the coming year for new air pollution monitoring equipment and 22 new staff, including people who would operate air sensors, review air permits and conduct inspections. Both Water Gremlin and Smith Foundry were operating with air pollution permits that were many years old.

The funding is good news, Mulholland said, because MPCA has “talked about a backlog for a long time.”