Smith Foundry in south Minneapolis is now a silent sentinel, closed forever.

“This is very significant,” explains Dean Dovolis, chairman of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute. “A big change for the future of the neighborhood and a great opportunity for residents to have really clean air.”

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released a statement on Thursday saying, among other things:

“The company has informed the MPCA that it will cease all manufacturing and production activities at the end of today.”

“Oh, it’s huge,” says Joan Vanhala, who has lived in the area for 40 years.

She is among those who have expressed concern about particulate matter pollution, asthma and cardiovascular disease.

“Our bodies have been filtering out the pollutants from this plant in this community for 100 years,” Vanhala notes. “To open the windows in the summer, not smell that odor, and have fresh air is pretty amazing.”

The closure followed an agreement in June with the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The company agreed to cease casting and smelting operations by mid-2025 after an unannounced EPA inspection in May 2023 found that the foundry was not using its environmental protection facilities and was not maintaining required records.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particle emission levels were more than twice the levels permitted by government regulators.

The closure of Smith Foundry follows the closure of Bituminous Roadways’ asphalt plant next door last year.

“It is not the visible smoke, but the invisible smoke and dust that are the greatest danger,” explains Dovolis. “In both of our industries here, there was very high particulate matter pollution.”

According to the MPCA, foundry operators were required under the EPA agreement to obtain a new state air quality permit.

According to state regulators, the company notified them in July that it would cease operations rather than provide the information needed for approval.

RELATED TOPICS: Smith Foundry shuts down after failing to obtain new air permit from MPCA

Outside the foundry, Dennis, a 37-year-old employee, says he learned of the closure plans in late July.

“I don’t know what to say, it is what it is,” he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. “They said we had one more year. They signed an agreement with MPCA for another year.”

Dennis says he plans to retire.

The company did not disclose whether there are plans to offer severance pay or other benefits to its 50 employees.

“It’s a huge loss for these workers in some ways. Of course, losing your job is incredibly bad,” says Luke Gannon of the East Phillips Improvement Coalition. “We’ve tried to start a conversation and see if Smith will pay severance. My sympathies go out to the workers. At the same time, this foundry has been polluting this neighborhood for over 100 years.”

But Desiree Dantona, who takes her son Milo to the Circulo de Amigos Child Care Center, says she breathes a sigh of relief.

Dantona says the four-year-old suffers from reactive airway disease, a precursor to asthma, and they have had to visit the emergency room twice because he was having trouble getting enough air.

“I dropped my child off every morning and many mornings he smelled really awful fumes,” she says. “I can’t say why my child is having breathing problems, but I can definitely tell you that being across the street from a metal foundry is not helping. It’s making the problem worse and can make him sicker than he needs to be.”

A Smith Foundry spokesman declined to comment Thursday.

In July, the company issued a press release stating that the MPCA’s air permit process forced an earlier than expected closure of the blast furnace and left the company with no choice but to close the foundry.

Smith Foundry said at the time that the facility would be used for limited administrative tasks and “other non-operational functions necessary to conduct the business.”

What will happen to the foundry building and the associated land in the long term is still unclear.

Residents say they have hope for the future of the neighborhood.

“Little Earth and the residents here are so relieved that tomorrow will be the first day in over 100 years that we can breathe cleaner air,” Gannon said. “It’s just a huge sigh of relief.”