The on-again, off-again public meeting to discuss a controversial proposal to raise the pollutant limit for a north Minneapolis metal shredder is off again because a state agency has decided that the draft permit needs more work.

Notice of the postponement by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) appears in a state environmental bulletin dated last Monday and also was given to area legislators last week.

Northern Metal Recycling proposed revamping its 1998 air emission permit after the shredder failed to meet its requirements once it finally began operating in 2009. The company wants to raise some pollution limits, loosen restrictions on what materials may be shredded and reduce the frequency of pollution testing.

"We will stay active on this issue. We all need to remain vigilant," said state Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, an amendment opponent. "It's only temporary, but it is a blow to the polluters and I'm sure we'll come out better in the end."

Representatives of the MPCA could not be reached for comment on Saturday on why it had decided to revise the draft permit and issue a revised environmental study on the matter. But it said it was canceling a planned Feb. 28 public information meeting on the proposed permit amendment and closing the public comment period prematurely due to the planned revisions.

It's the second time that the agency has scratched an announced public session on the proposal, announcing and then abruptly canceling a planned Feb. 14 information meeting. It said a new meeting date and comment period will be announced later.

Northern Metal shredder

"They're hearing the outcry of the community and the response of the city of Minneapolis to their request," City Council Member Diane Hofstede said. "It's a complicated issue, and there's recognition that it is."

Opponents ranging from area legislators to the City Council and Park Board to the National Park Service are lining up against the shredder's request. They say that it would be a step backward to allow more pollutants, especially particulates, in an area that's zoned industrial but has six city parks within an eight-block radius. Long-term city plans call for housing development in the area of the shredder near the west end of the Lowry Avenue Bridge.

The company's compliance plan said it can't meet the particle limits the state set in a 1998 permit, that it has installed the best available technology to control particles and that meeting the state limit is technologically impossible