A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice has been filed in Minnesota to document the planned closing of Northern Iron LLC, St. Paul, MN, by the end of 2026. The closing will be carried out in stages beginning October 1, affecting 86 employees in total.
Northern Iron produces and machines gray iron, ductile iron, and austempered iron castings up to 250 lbs., which it supplies to industrial equipment builders, oil-and-gas exploration operations, commercial vehicle manufacturers, and locomotive and off-highway machinery builders.
The federal WARN Act requires employers to provide notice to workers at least 60 days in advance of high volume layoffs or plant closures. Northern Iron’s WARN notice stipulates the “closing is permanent and ... All employees will have at least sixty days’ notice of the last day of employment.”
The St. Paul ferrous foundry is a holding of The Lawton Standard Co., the company that acquired Northern Iron & Machine in 2022.
The foundry has maintained that its operations are compliant with federal and state air-quality regulations.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had been prompted by neighborhood complaints of airborne emissions from the foundry. In 2024 the MPCA ordered Northern Iron to reduce its lead and particulate matter emissions and comply with national air-quality standards.
The closing is a decision that Lawton Standard chief administrative officer Tierney Grutza attributed to the MPCA’s efforts to revoke the plant’s air permits, and “the lack of a viable and predictable framework for continued operation (that) ultimately left us with no feasible alternative but to begin winding down the facility,” according to a statement.
"We are deeply disappointed that, despite years of investment, collaboration, and good-faith efforts to address environmental and permitting concerns, we were unable to reach a path forward that would allow Northern Iron to continue operating," according to Grutza.
The MPCA made a similar effort to restrict the operations of another metalcasting operation, Smith Foundry in Minneapolis, which chose to close in August 2024.
According to the WARN notice filed on July 30, the last day for melting and mold pouring at Northern Iron will be October 1, and the last day of finishing operations will be October 23. Machining and shipping will end on November 27, and full closure of the plant will be completed on December 31.