Minneapolis, MN – On the evening of February 7, residents of East Phillips confronted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) at a community meeting and then held a press conference regarding the Smith Foundry.

East Phillips is a primarily oppressed nationality neighborhood and home to the Little Earth indigenous community. East Phillips has the highest rates of asthma in all of Minnesota, with many residents suffering from COPD among other respiratory health issues.

The double-dealing of the MPCA was on clear display by trying to break the community meeting up into smaller, fragmented groups at “answer” tables. The East Phillips community and their supporters refused to cooperate, ignoring the “answer” tables and demanding that the MPCA address the community as a whole.

This was a follow-up meeting after the federal Environmental Protection Agency found, in a surprise inspection, that Smith Foundry was polluting the neighborhood and it required an outside agency to come to test the facility again.

The Smith Foundry has been releasing lead and other pollutants into the air on a permit they received in 1992. This permit does not monitor for lead. On Tuesday this week, the MPCA went out of their way to announce via Twitter that they found “The Smith Foundry is meeting their permit requirements. The facility emits low levels of lead.” The MPCA proudly shared this information, despite the fact there is no safe level of lead.

At the meeting on Wednesday night, residents pointed out that Smith has been poisoning the neighborhood for 120 years, while MPCA denies this and claims the foundry is in compliance with its permits. Brian Dickens, an Environmental Protection Agency employee named on Wednesday night, said that last year the Smith Foundry was in complete violation of their permits, but he states that “things have improved a lot.” 20-year Phillips resident Steff Yorek responded, “How can we trust you to maintain that they’re in compliance with the permit after you’ve allowed them to poison our air for decades?”

The MPCA is aware that this residential neighborhood is flooded with polluters and did not express any interest in changing that. As stated by MPCA representative Frank Kohlasch, “Bituminous Roadways is next door to Smith Foundry. Considering all sources of pollution around Smith Foundry is critical to the process for meeting permit requirements, we have to consider all the polluters. What are all of the other sources of air pollution that can be quantified?” Kohlasch did not respond when a neighbor pointed out that this is a residential neighborhood, not an industrial wasteland. The attendees of the neighborhood made their point clear: Smith Foundry does not belong in a residential neighborhood.

At the press conference called by the Climate Justice Committee, the MPCA was exposed for protecting the polluters like Smith Foundry, and not the community of East Phillips. A question-and-answer chant showed the community’s understanding of the role of the MPCA. The question to the community was, “Who keeps us safe?” The answer by the community was, “We keep us safe!” and “What do we want? Shut it down!”

#MinneapolisMN #Environment #EnvironmentalJustice #OppressedNationalities #IndigenousPeoples #EPA #SmithFoundry #CJC #EastPhillips #EnvironmentalRacism

Minneapolis, MN – This week has been eventful in the East Phillips fight to stop the demolition of the arsenic-contaminated site of the Roof Depot building in south Minneapolis.

At dawn on Tuesday, February 22, defenders set up encampment at the site. That evening, Minneapolis cops evicted the encampment.

On Thursday, February 24, Little Earth – a mostly native housing complex bordering the Roof Depot site – residents had a caravan to the Minneapolis city council meeting. Despite over a foot of snow falling, dozens of residents made their way to City Hall in support of City Councilors Jason Chavez (who represents the East Phillips area) and Aisha Chughtai as they made one more attempt to rescind the demolition contract.

While one council member was persuaded by the packed room of Little Earth residents and ongoing struggle by community members and supporters, the measure failed, and the demolition was to move forward as previously planned.

Cowardly city council members, who didn’t want to be confronted about their choice to poison the neighborhood, filed charges against three of the protesters. These charges are an ongoing issue that the Climate Justice Committee and members of the community will continue to fight against.

Then on Friday, February 24, a Hennepin County District Court judge granted an injunction, halting the city of Minneapolis from demolishing the former Roof Depot building. The injunction gives at minimum a two-week window halting demolition while the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, authors of the lawsuit, put together a $10,000 bond and meet other stipulations.

Little Earth residents, the American Indian Movement, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, the Climate Justice Committee and many others vow to use this time to continue to build opposition to the city plan, which is to demolish the building to make create a facility for over 800 diesel trucks.

For updates, follow @climatejusticemn, @eastphillipsurbanfarm and @defendthedepot on Instagram.

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice #environmentalRacism #EastPhillips

Minneapolis, MN – 80 people rallied and marched, April 23, to celebrate Earth Day in Minneapolis, despite rain clouds. The was organized by the Climate Justice Committee and centered around important struggles in the ongoing fight for climate justice. The rally started outside a chain link fence surrounding the closed Roofing Depot factory that is subject of a struggle between the city government and neighborhood activists.

While the fight to stop Line 3 – which carries tar sands oil, the most toxic of petroleum products – is better known, the local fight to turn the Rooftop Depot building into an urban farm is also about community control of resources in the climate justice struggle. The demolition of the Rooftop Depot will result in the release of clouds of arsenic dust so that the city of Minneapolis can build a heavy equipment yard. The East Phillips neighborhood is home to many oppressed nationalities and is designated as a Green Zone by Minneapolis.

The action was interspersed with music by Garbanzo & Chickpea of “Pipeline Blues” fame and by Jo Poeschl and it opened with dances by Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue, an indigenous group from South Minneapolis. The opening land acknowledgement by a seventh-grade student and CJC supporter set the tone when they stated that “we are organizing for climate justice to save the planet from global warming and to end environmental racism.”

After the opening ceremonies, Tracy Molm from the Climate Justice Committee pointed out, “There is hope, and it won’t come from the Democratic Party or from big corporations trying to ‘Go Green’ – it comes from us coming together and demanding more! From the over 800 people who put their bodies on the line to slow construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. Hope also comes from the East Phillips Urban Farm Initiative.”

The president of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), Dean Dovolis was full of spirit and enthusiasm as he announced that two community organizations, representing the East African and Asian communities, committed $3 million each just in the past week. He added “this has become a $7 million cause of community ownership of green culture of aquaculture, of agriculture. Meaning everyone in this community will be able to participate. This will bring 750 jobs to the community.” Currently, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is standing in the way; he is demanding to move more pollution into the neighborhood and ignoring the pollution from demolishing the building on the site.

The event also included excellent speeches from Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee member, Diana Hernandez, who spoke about climate refugees and the role environmental destruction plays in immigration. Meredith Aby-Keirstead from the Anti-War Committee spoke of the role of the U.S. military in climate change – they are the largest institutional polluter and are left out of carbon emissions agreements like the Paris Accords. Maddy Eguizabal from SDS at the University of Minnesota and Kelly Thomas from Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar made the connection of the role of police in oppressed nationality communities that are also targeted by polluting industries and said the solution is community control both of the police but also of resources.

The group marched around the neighborhood to honks and lots of support. Chants included, “What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!” “Urban farm, not toxic harm!” and “Stop Line 3!”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #EarthDay #EastPhillips