Press Release

Attorney General Ellison: Northern Metals shutdown and settlement ‘better than what we could have achieved at trial’ and a ‘win for the people of North Minneapolis’

In addition to shutting down for good at 6:00 p.m. today, Northern Metals admits to wrongdoing and will pay civil penalty in settlement with State

September 23, 2019 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released the following statement about the settlement that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which Attorney General Ellison’s office represented, reached with Northern Metals. The terms of the settlement are that:

• Northern Metals will shut down its North Minneapolis metal-shredding operations for good at 6:00 p.m. today;
• it admits it altered emissions readings;
• it will pay a $200,000 civil penalty to the State of Minnesota’s Environmental Fund; and
• the MPCA has the ability to reopen the permit for Northern Metals’ facility in Becker to allow for greater monitoring of its emissions and pollution-control equipment.

“The people of North Minneapolis have been demanding for years that Northern Metals’ shredding operation be shut down. Because of the settlement we reached — which is better than what we could have achieved at trial — that’s finally happening today, for good. For the first time ever, Northern Metals also publicly admitted it altered its records. On top of that, we won more money for the environment than the maximum the law would have allowed at trial. And we made sure the settlement could benefit the people of Becker as well.

“This is a win for all the people of Minnesota, especially the people of North Minneapolis who’ve been fighting for community health and environmental justice for years. This is for them.”

A copy of the Consent Decree is available on the MPCA website.