Rosemount plant must install new equipment to address pollution

A south metro smelting plant must install new equipment after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found violations related to air pollution there since late 2019.

For years, residents living near the Rosemount facility have complained of a chlorine smell, a metallic taste and a blue-green haze, with some saying they couldn't be outside at times due to the acrid air. They worried it was harmful to their health.

"There's obviously concerns," said resident Gary Dion at a Rosemount City Council work session Tuesday. "[Residents] are not just making it up."

In the past, officials for Spectro Alloys Corp. have said they're doing nothing wrong and attributed the fogginess to humidity causing water vapor to hang in the air, or more recently the distinct odor of aluminum oxide.

"The fact is, there is an odor associated with melting metal," said Luke Palen, president of Spectro Alloys. "You can have a smell that's normal for an operation but also not harmful."

But the EPA's investigation, which was prompted by citizen complaints, found that Spectro was emitting too many toxins into the air, including particulate, or soot. Soot indicates that toxic metal air pollutants may be present, said Evan Mulholland, a staff attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

The corporation must complete several engineering fixes and install new equipment, along with monitoring emissions and reporting back to the EPA regularly.

At the work session, Palen told about 15 residents and the council that Spectro is the only plant in the Upper Midwest that is recycling aluminum, other than beverage containers. He said recycling aluminum creates 90% fewer emissions than producing it from scratch.

He said he plans to install a new $3 million baghouse, or multiple furnace filters that control and collect pollutants, which he said was the EPA's main requirement.

"I think the solution we came to here is going to solve that," Palen said.

He said there was never an "imminent threat to health or public safety," adding that the federal agency could have shut down Spectro Alloys if it wanted.

The EPA's findings surprised him, he said, because Spectro goes beyond what environmental standards require.

"From what we've seen … it's going to be a nice improvement to install these 21st-century baghouses," Logan said.

At the work session, residents also said when they have contacted Palen directly, he dismissed their concerns, though Palen disputes that. He said he will work harder to connect with those living near the plant, including meeting with them several times a year. "That's something I commit to you to doing better," he said.

Some attendees weren't satisfied with Palen's responses.

"It was disappointing to attend a meeting where Spectro was [supposed] to explain the EPA findings of Spectro's environmental violations and instead a PowerPoint promoting their business was presented," Vanessa Demuth, a Rosemount resident and founder of the city's environmental commission, said in an e-mail. "I was expecting to hear an apology for their decades of violations that resulted in polluting the environment."

Dion said the company needs to "get ahead of the curve" and be proactive, not wait for the EPA to find problems.

In 2016, Spectro had to pay the MPCA a $125,000 fine for hazardous waste and storm­water violations.

The EPA declined to comment because it is an "ongoing enforcement matter."

MPCA officials said the agency "appreciates the EPA's actions to ensure the facility is in compliance."

Erin Adler • 612-673-1781