A metal foundry on St. Paul’s East Side at loggerheads with state regulators over air quality emissions has filed its second lawsuit against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, this time alleging breaches of the state’s Data Practices Act and a count of defamation related to a December plant fire.
The Northern Iron Foundry, which was purchased by Lawton Standard in 2022, filed its latest lawsuit on Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court. It is being represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey and Whitney.
The 11-page civil complaint calls for proper enforcement of an existing stipulation agreement and alleges one count each of breach of contract, violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and defamation.
In March, the foundry’s residential neighbors filed a class action suit against Northern Iron — Brittney Bruce v. Northern Iron — alleging their homes had been contaminated by soot laced with heavy metals from the foundry. MPCA testing found chromium, cobalt, lead and manganese — the same metals detected in samples taken from the Northern Iron facility.
Response from Northern Iron
On Feb. 10, in response to Northern Iron’s May 2024 lawsuit against state regulators, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office issued a letter to the court, on behalf of the MPCA, expressing concern about the metal-tainted soot landing on residences near the Forest Street plant, as well as overdue air quality monitoring data and other issues delaying permitting.
During a July 10 hearing in the class action suit, “it was confirmed that the data regarding soot is not public data and is likely classified as civil investigative data, which can only be released pursuant to a court order,” reads the company’s latest civil filing, which claims a data privacy violation.
The attorney general’s office also claimed that Northern Iron submitted a permit application with new air quality modeling data more than four months after both were due, and that both were incomplete. The company, according to the attorney general’s office, submitted “a flurry of last-minute” requests for legal evidence known as discovery in an apparent attempt to delay the case.
The attorney general’s letter went on to say that a December fire that took place at Northern Iron was due to improper installation of equipment, even though “the MPCA has no evidence that the fire was caused by improper installation,” reads the lawsuit.
“The MPCA knew at the time that it submitted the Feb. 10 letter that the statement was and is false,” reads the lawsuit, which claims the letter amounts to defamation.
The new civil complaint notes that the MPCA issued Northern Iron a notice of violation in April 2023 over outdated emissions controls and equipment installed without proper permits, leading to a stipulation agreement between the two parties in July 2023.
The company agreed to pay the MPCA $41,000, and the agreement spelled out corrective actions Northern Iron would take while regulators held off on any further penalties.
The MPCA then issued a new administrative order in April 2024, alleging further violations. Northern Iron responded by filing a petition against state regulators in Ramsey County District Court that May, claiming that the MPCA had bypassed a dispute resolution process laid out in their previous agreement.
Added penalties
Last October, the MPCA levied $219,000 in added penalties against Northern Iron through an administrative penalty order for alleged violations of the stipulation agreement. The company filed a legal appeal of the order last November.
In December, the MPCA issued an amended administrative penalty order demanding penalty payments within 30 days, and in early June, regulators issued a notice of intent to revoke the company’s air permit without likelihood of it being reissued.
The company’s latest civil filing, which maintains that the dispute had hurt its standing with vendors and workers, calls for unspecified damages above $75,000 to be paid to Northern Iron for breach of the stipulation agreement, as well as attorney’s fees, costs and whatever other relief the court may deem suitable.
The summons and complaint was served to the MPCA on Wednesday, and the case was assigned that day to Judge Leonardo Castro.
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