Between 50-75 people gathered at an open house Wednesday at the BCC to soak up information and have questions answered in regards to a recycler’s goal of continuing business in Becker.

 

Employees and executives of Northern Metal Recycling in Minneapolis were onhand and met with and shared their vision of building a new recycling plant in the industrial park. Becker city had their entire entourage of council members in attendance including Mayor Tracy Bertram and members Rick Hendrickson, Lori Keller, Mike Doering and Todd Hanrahan, to meet with citizens and show their support for the business.

 

Other invested parties with tables of information and eager representatives included Landmark Environmental, SEH, Trinity Consultants, Industrial Environmental Consultants and the MPCA.

 

Landmark Environmental is out of Bloomington and they provide professional consulting services to clients who buy, sell, redevelop, or manage property affected by environmental conditions.

Landmark was represented by Matt Ledvina, professional engineer for water/wastewater permitting.

 

SEH is Becker’s engineering firm and Bryan Remer was onhand to visit with guests and provide an outline of the project through planning, design and construction.

 

Trinity Consultants had representatives Shelley Koehn and Angie Wanger answering questions about environmental and related business objectives in relation to Northern Metals. They specialize in air quality issues and cover environmental regulatory developments as well as topics related to corporate environmental performance. 

 

Sarah Kilgriff and Kelsey Suddard were part of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency team that spoke to interested parties about their efforts in administering strict pollution controls while protecting and improving the environment and enhancing human health.

 

Members from Sherburne County including a few county board members, were in attendance to meet with visitors and answer any questions relating to the county’s interest in the project.

 

Northern Metal Recycling handles over 100 grades of ferrous and nonferrous metals and serves the Upper Midwest through their three-state network of recycling facilities. They have 12 locations in Minnesota, two in Wisconsin and three in North Dakota, including Milnor and Bismarck.

 

Northern Metals has been in the news over the last few years as they have tried to settle emissions violation claims by the MPCA. In 2015, NMR went to court to try to shut down MPCA air monitors near their facility in Minneapolis. A year later, the MPCA moved to revoke Northern Metals’ air quality permit after investigations at the site revealed the company was not following the permit and had omitted information during the permit process.

 

In March, an agreement was reached with the MPCA and Northern Metals agreed to pay $2.5 million in costs and penalties. The settlement includes a $1 million civil penalty, payment for three years of air monitoring, reimbursement to the state for monitoring costs, court costs and legal fees and $600,000 for community heath projects in areas neighboring the facility.

 

In a statement in March, Northern Metals Chief Operating Officer Scott Helberg, a Becker Twp. resident, said the company is “pleased that we have been able to amicably and cooperatively resolve this matter outside of the courts.”

 

Helberg’s statement maintained that Northern Metals complied with its permit terms and obeyed state and federal laws.

 

Matthew Mahr, an environmental coordinator with NMR explained his company has always been in compliance with permit limits and said many of the workers in the facility who have worked with metal emissions have practiced handling the solid materials safely and none have had any health issues after working for the company for many years.

 

“Our lead exposure testing has resulted in 3.02 lbs. per year with the permit limit being around 15 lbs.” Mahr said. “And as far as Arsenic, Beryllium, Cadmium, Manganese and Nickel, all the tests show we are well below the permitting limit for metals emissions.”

 

One of NMR’s biggest areas for recycling is with automobiles, the most recycled consumer product in the world today. Nearly 12 million vehicles are recycled in the U.S. annually. More than 14 million pounds of recycled steel is derived from the end life of vehicles and around 37% of all ferrous metals are used to blast furnaces and smelters across the country.

 

In the new construction project slated for Becker in the future, NMR and its engineers forecast a state-of-the-art facility with state-of-the-art equipment. The venture is expected to bring more than 85 jobs to Becker and will be located in the city’s industrial park on 50-acre property owned by Xcel Energy.

 

“Because of its location in the industrial park and the access to good roads, highways and the rail, Becker stood out as an ideal place to relocate,” said Mahr.

 

Becker’s Community Development Director Marie Pflipsen said she has not heard too many people share suspecting concerns with NMR’s relocation to Becker. Most of people’s concerns has been on its location in the city.

 

“The people I’ve talked to come to me and say they have a concern with this company locating here and ask whereabouts they will be stationed,” Pflipsen says. “When I tell them and show them on the map that it is in the industrial park, they seem to relax their concerns.”

 

Northern Metals’ move to Becker will take a couple of years, Pflipsen said, as the metal recycler completes its process of shutting down their facility in Minneapolis and completing compliance requests through the MPCA in their final testing this month. The fall of 2018 or 2019 is the startup goal date set by the City of Becker, the engineers and NMR.

 

“We’re pretty excited to get started on it,” said City Administrator Greg Pruszinske.

 

“This is a big deal for Becker,” said Mayor Bertram. “It’s been a long process and we are pleased Northern Metals is bringing its business and jobs to our community.”