North Minneapolis residents’ complaints about smelly shingle factory lead to inspection, federal air pollution violations 8%
By Andrew Hazzard6%
7/9/2026, 10:18:25 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, False Dilemma, and Indoctrination, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 4.9% saturation with 41 hits. Analysis detected 179 faulty-reasoning hits from 834 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.5% and a BS Rank of 8% (14,158 of 15,282 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.60% of the article peer group.
Federal regulators found multiple Clean Air Act violations at a shingle factory on Minneapolis’ north side after inspections prompted by odor complaints from residents.
The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a June 15 finding of violation to Owens Corning, an asphalt shingle factory adjacent to Shingle Creek, according to documents obtained by Sahan Journal.
The EPA found Owens Corning exceeded permitted levels of sulfur dioxide pollution, used equipment it was not permitted to run and missed a deadline to submit a compliance report by more than a year.
Sulfur dioxide can harm the human respiratory system, according to the EPA .
People with asthma, especially children, are sensitive to sulfur dioxide pollution.
The violations came after two inspections conducted by the EPA and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in February and September 2025.
Odor complaints from residents inspired those inspections, an EPA spokesperson told Sahan Journal.
“After receiving multiple odor complaints from residents in the Shingle Creek community, EPA and MPCA jointly conducted multiple on-site inspections.
EPA will work collaboratively with the state and with Owens Corning to resolve the matter, protect human health and the environment, and ensure compliance,” the EPA said in a statement.
State Rep.
Fue Lee, the Minnesota DFLer who represents the neighborhood, said residents’ complaints about odors from the factory have risen in the past few years.
The violations show the issues go beyond smell, he said.
“I think that’s concerning, too, not just odor, but all these pollutants coming to our residents,” Lee told Sahan Journal.
An Owens Corning spokesperson said the company takes its environmental and regulatory responses seriously.
“We disagree with certain findings in the June 15 notice and are working constructively with the EPA to review those matters,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The violations are accusations that typically result in a negotiated compliance plan between the facility and the EPA.
Some violations can result in fines, such as the $80,000 penalty the EPA imposed on Smith Foundry in south Minneapolis in 2024.
Others may simply encourage compliance with follow up inspections, like at St.
Paul Brass Foundry in 2025 .
Nature of violations
The EPA found five violations at Owens Corning.
Two of those violations involve sulfur dioxide emissions, according to the filing document.
Owens Corning operates on a five-year permit from the MPCA that last renewed in 2024.
The company is required to test its emissions once every five-year period.
In March 2024, the EPA found Owens Corning exceeded its emission limit for sulfur dioxide while running those tests.
The EPA also found the company was not conducting that test under what regulators call “worst-case conditions.”
They were not measuring the levels of sulfur dioxide pollution that could be generated when the company was processing its highest-allowed levels of asphalt.
The EPA filing suggests Owens Corning was likely underestimating its sulfur dioxide emissions during normal operations, citing testing that found emissions rose steadily over the course of a standard 7.5-hour asphalt processing period.
The EPA noted company records showed 249 asphalt processing periods over eight hours between January and September 2025, making it likely emission limits were exceeded in that time.
The company submitted its 2024 annual operations report to the MCPA more than a year past the January 2025 deadline, resulting in another violation, according to the EPA.
Two more violations were issued to Owens for running a backup boiler and pollution control equipment in violation of its permit.
Lee bought a house in the area in 2015 and said he regularly notices the smell from Owens Corning.
He knows residents have complained about the odor, but feels that the inspections and resulting violations came more from chance.
He said he’s glad to see the EPA issue a violation, but wants to see more action from state regulators.
“It’s unfortunate that we need that level of government to come in and do some level of enforcement in our community,” Lee said.
MPCA Communications Director Becky Lentz said state regulators worked closely with the EPA on the violation findings, and credited community concerns with inspiring the factory inspections.
“The MPCA supports the EPA in its compliance and enforcement work in Minnesota.
The MPCA will continue our partnership with the EPA to protect the health of the community around the facility and ensure our clean air laws are enforced,” Lentz said in a statement.
Lee has championed environmental issues in the Minnesota House, and fought for laws passed in 2023 intended to provide more robust regulation for polluting facilities in diverse, low-income neighborhoods and to require the MPCA to inspect facilities with multiple odor complaints.
Both laws have been on the books for three years, but aren’t yet implemented because the MCPA is completing a lengthy rulemaking period for them.
“The next step for me is figuring out why this is still happening in our community when we have these laws in place,” Lee said.
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71%flagged-word coverageFue Lee
68 attributed words36% of attributed speech16% writer coverage
Indoctrination+36.8 pts
Writer 0%Fue Lee 37%
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