The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued a dishonest email Monday, saying Smith Foundry’s recent air pollution test results “verify” that the foundry “is not emitting more particulate matter than allowed by its permit.”
The air tests didn’t “verify” anything.
Verify means to double check your claims to make sure they are correct.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the MPCA had offered contradictory claims about whether Smith Foundry was violating its air quality permit.
The EPA conducted an unannounced foundry inspection last May. It was part of its national commitment to focus on environmental justice neighborhoods such as East Phillips, which has a high percentage of poor and BIPOC residents. It also has high levels of air pollution and asthma.
The EPA claimed the foundry had multiple permit violations, from releasing excess fine particle pollution to failing to keep required records.
MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler claimed her agency had no evidence the foundry had violated its permits, indirectly calling into question the EPA’s findings.
Who was right?
On Monday, the MPCA’s PR department’s claimed it was right. It said the foundry’s recent air quality tests “verify” it is not emitting more particulate matter than the permit allows. In other words, the MPCA was saying the foundry was not, and is not, violating its permit.
It’s a face-saving and dishonest statement.
The MPCA has a pattern of siding with polluters over people.
Here’s why. The EPA conducted a follow-up inspection of Smith Foundry on Dec. 12-13. Inspectors found the company had done improvements in advance of the air testing.
Specifically, workers patched holes in the duct work. They added tarps and covers in places “to help reduce uncaptured emissions. … The foundry hired an outside firm to change the filter bags in three of its five baghouses” (large air filters).
Further, the EPA’s May inspection was unannounced. In comparison, the foundry knew air quality tests would be conducted in December. Workers had time to sweep the floors, patch some holes, and put their best filters forward.
Most likely, the foundry didn’t get a passing grade because there was no problem in the first place. It got a passing grade because the company made needed repairs in response to the EPA’s notice of violations.
The MPCA doesn’t get to take credit for that. The MPCA should be thanking the EPA for finding problems the agency missed.
The MPCA has a pattern of siding with polluters over people. (Think Northern Metal, the PolyMet and MinnTac mines, and Enbridge Line 3.)
On paper, the MPCA has a commitment to environmental justice. It just can’t verify it in practice.
healingmnstories.wordpress.com 
I’m not sure… Yet I’d bet the MPCA lacks the hubris to admit fault. We’ve seen little ability to date for any recognition of the ways their actions have failed to protect Minnesotans.
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