New bills proposed Wednesday in the Minnesota Legislature would impose stronger testing requirements on polluting facilities located in environmental justice areas, and increase penalties for facilities that violate state permits.
Representative Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, said he was inspired to introduce new legislation due to problems with facilities such as Northern Metals and Smith Foundry in Minneapolis, and Water Gremlin in White Bear Lake.
“We don’t really have any consistency in ensuring compliance and enforcement with our air emission limits,” Lee said.
One of his proposed bills (House File 3579) would require large facilities operating under state permits to develop protocols to determine compliance with state and federal standards if they are located in or within a mile of diverse and low-income communities known as environmental justice areas. They would also be required to install regular pollution monitoring systems or conduct annual emissions testing, and report emission levels to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on a monthly basis.
Environmental justice areas are defined by state and federal standards as neighborhoods where more than 40% of residents are people of color or speak a language other than English at home, or more than 35% of households are considered low income. Areas like north Minneapolis, the East Side of St. Paul, and large portions of suburban communities such as Maplewood and Columbia Heights are considered environmental justice areas by the state.
Lee’s other bill (House File 671) would increase the fines for facilities that violate their permit, and would increase fines for repeat offenders. It would raise maximum daily fines for air, water, and land pollution from $10,000 to $70,000, and the maximum daily hazardous waste penalty from $25,000 to $80,000.
The law would also increase the maximum administrative penalty from $20,000 to $25,000 and no longer allow the MPCA to forgive those penalties for serious violations or at facilities with repeated issues.
Lee introduced his bills at the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.
Increasing information and accountability
Today, most emission analysis in Minnesota is done by what regulators call modeling. Regulated facilities record inputs such as what chemicals and machinery are used in their operation and running hours, and the MPCA uses those figures and known pollution variables to project emission levels.
Consistent testing could alert regulators earlier to problem facilities and protect public health and the environment, Lee said. His proposed law would apply to major facilities with the potential to emit more than 100 tons of pollutants or 25 tons of hazardous pollutants each year. It would apply to roughly 370 facilities in the state, according to the Minnesota House Research Department.
Roxxanne O’Brien, a north Minneapolis resident with Community Members for Environmental Justice, said the proposed law would have been helpful in the fight to evict Northern Metals, a metal recycler from the North Side, by boosting accountability. The facility didn’t want to complete testing, she said, and then lied about the amount it was emitting.
“Our communities really paid the price for years,” O’Brien said.
Regulators forced Northern Metals to leave north Minneapolis after repeated pollution violations, including findings that the company fabricated its self-reported emissions data to the state. Northern Metals went five years without an air quality evaluation after receiving a permit in 1998. It was another 10 years before the MPCA completed an air quality evaluation at the site.
Water Gremlin, a fishing sinker and lead battery terminal producer, emitted massive amounts of the metal degreaser trichloroethylene, resulting in severe health and environmental damage and a $7 million fine from the MPCA in 2019. Subsequent inspections uncovered further violations in 2021. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
The Environmental Protection Agency found several Clean Air Act Violations at Smith Foundry in south Minneapolis during a surprise inspection in May 2023. The public learned of violations in November, when Sahan Journal reported on EPA findings that the metal foundry produced nearly double the amount of pollution allowed in its permit.
“That’s why I’m bringing this bill forward,” Lee said.
Tom Johnson, legislative liaison for the MPCA, said the agency supports the effort to get more information about regulated facilities, but cautioned that the bill may need adjustments. The MPCA would need more staff to go through the monthly reports and is interested in adjusting the definition of major facilities in the bill, he said. Some facilities may emit pollutants that aren’t easy to measure, he added.
Some business groups and Republican lawmakers cautioned that the bill could put additional burdens on regulated companies and expressed fears that small businesses could be impacted.
Democrats expressed support for the legislation.
“There are some bad actors that are out there and the only way you’re going to have them comply is to have a process like this established,” said Representative Peter Fischer, DFL-Maplewood.
The bill will be considered for inclusion in the environmental omnibus bill, a large package that typically includes several laws and is often passed toward the end of the Legislative session.
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