Minnesota pollution agency could have alerted people whose health was at risk from lead exposure sooner

WCCO Investigates discovered the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) could have alerted people whose health was at risk from lead exposure sooner. 

In late May, the MPCA issued a notice of violation to Gopher Resource in Eagan, Minnesota, for exceeding lead air quality standards from January through March. People living nearby weren’t told about the pollution problem until July. 

The state pollution control agency has the authority to notify people when there’s a health risk. The Environmental Protection Agency told WCCO the agency doesn’t have to wait three months to do so per federal law — as the MPCA told concerned residents. 

People who live in the area of impact voiced their concerns at a community meeting last month, and expressed frustration about how the meeting was handled. 

Battery recycling business, Gopher Resource, released excessive lead emissions for three months earlier this year. The company says it became aware of the elevated readings in early 2025 and alerted the MPCA. The state health department says there’s no safe level of lead exposure. 

“The challenging part here is that we have federal rules which require that we have three months of data to confirm that those lead levels exceeded those federal standards,” MPCA Division Director Courtney Ahlers-Nelson said during a virtual meeting. “As a result, after three months of data, we must physically collect the monitoring, the materials from our monitors and then we must review that very closely.”

The MPCA pointed to the federal Clean Air Act, saying that’s why it took so long to notify people. 

But it was too late for anyone to take precautions. 

The Environmental Protection Agency told WCCO, “The Clean Air Act does not prohibit sharing data before the three-month rolling calculation is done.”

The EPA did say there is a time lag to process a day’s sample.

Here’s some of what the MPCA told WCCO in response: 

“It is a delicate balance of sharing information and causing undue public concern and unjustified damage to a company’s reputation, and we continually review our processes within MPCA and take public feedback into account. Spikes in monitoring can sometimes be attributed to monitoring equipment malfunctions or environmental anomalies, and we need to be certain of what the data shows.”

It added that the information they shared was part of an active investigation and, under state law, was considered non-public.           

Here’s the bottom line: The community has said they want the MPCA to alert them as soon as possible when there’s a pollution problem suspected that can impact health — and the agency can.

Already, a state lawmaker has called for the legislative auditor to look into how this was handled. The legislative auditor told WCCO the office has not yet made a decision about a special review.

MPCA reports there is also an open investigation into hazardous waste management and stormwater management at Gopher Resource.