Before latest pollution problem, Eagan lead recycler settled $30 million suit over health of workers, families

Neighbors of a lead recycling factory in Eagan learned last year that they could get part of a $30 million settlement stemming from accusations that the business had exposed workers and their families in Florida and Minnesota to the toxic metal for two decades.

Then, last week, some of those same neighbors got a letter from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: Gopher Resource was accused of polluting the air with lead in January, February and March of this year.

An MPCA spokeswoman said the more recent issues at the plant have since been fixed. But it’s part of a history of pollution issues and worker safety concerns at Gopher Resource, which melts and recycles lead from car batteries at 685 Yankee Doodle Road and another lead recycling facility in Tampa, Fla.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Florida in 2021. In court filings, former workers said that they were repeatedly exposed to unsafe levels of lead, that they were not given proper protective equipment and that the company did not teach them how to protect themselves and their families from exposure.

Lead is a potent developmental toxin for children and can cause nervous system and reproductive issues in adults as well, according to Mayo Clinic. The MPCA stresses that “no amount of lead in the body is safe.”

Gopher Resource did not admit fault as a part of the class action settlement, which was finalized in March. In a statement this week, the company wrote that it has “adopted policies and procedures designed to ensure our operations not only meet, but often exceed, the highest environmental, health, and safety standards in the industry.”

Now, a broad class of people including anyone who worked at either location, those workers’ families, and anyone who lived within 1 mile of the plants between 2000 and 2024 are entitled to compensation, according to the settlement website.

The claims in the suit track closely with a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by the Tampa Bay Times that highlighted issues at Gopher Resource in Florida. A video with the story shows thick plumes of lead-laden dust erupting inside the facility. Workers described sometimes being injured by molten lead from the furnace and unknowingly bringing home lead dust on their clothes.

The Times also identified 16 cases in Florida where dust from the plant was the suspected source of lead in the blood of employees’ children.

Florida employees who visited the Eagan plant noticed much cleaner conditions inside the recycler there, the report said. Air lead readings inside the Minnesota plant were also six times lower.

The latest allegations against the company concern lead that regulators say escaped its Eagan location — not the effects on workers.

The MPCA says the plant’s lead emissions broke air quality limits in January, February and March of this year. Agency spokeswoman Becky Lentz wrote in an email that an estimated 700 people live in the ¾-mile area that regulators believe was polluted.

In its statement, Gopher Resource said that it became aware of the air results through its own testing, and that it “took immediate action and worked diligently to investigate, identify and address the matter.” The statement also said the company planned additional engineering and process improvements. Neither Gopher Resource nor MPCA specified the cause of the excess emissions.

MPCA recommends that concerned neighbors talk to their health care provider about a blood test for lead. The state is also offering free soil sampling for property owners near the plant.

The state issued a notice of violation to Gopher on May 29, which initiates a pollution enforcement case.

The MPCA originally planned a public meeting about the pollution in Eagan for June, Lentz wrote, but it was rescheduled after the assassination of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attempted assassination of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

The agency will hold two meetings next week. A virtual meeting will be open to the public at 3 p.m. on July 21, and an in-person meeting will be held on July 22 from 6-8 p.m. at the Eagan Community Center.