East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI):
AIRNET resources for the East Phillips community
EPNI is a community partner with interests in understanding vehicle and truck traffic pollution and impacts from the local Smith Foundry (in-community air permit violations) and other local air permit violations (Abbott Northwestern Hospital). Learn more about the community below.
Presentations (check this page for future presentations)
Workgroup sessions 1 and 2, May 2025: A combined 2-part workgroup session (view Session 1 and Session 2 presentations) was conducted with participants from the East Phillips neighborhood. Participants received a brief air quality introduction and discussed the main concerns related to air pollution in their neighborhood. The top three air pollution sources of concern were identified to further narrow down and identify specific pollutants to monitor for the project. This was followed by a discussion of the pollutants of concern to monitor, as well as seeking input from participants on suitable locations for placing monitors.
Reports on data analysis and possible public health impacts (forthcoming in 2026)
The project will share periodic analysis of the data gathered from the air quality monitors and possible public health impacts.
Deployment plans (forthcoming in 2026)
The goal is to have all air quality monitors deployed in the neighborhoods by the end of January 2026.
Introduction to the community
EPNI is a community organization based in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. EPNI’s community works to convert a contested former industrial warehouse into a cooperatively-owned community hub centered around an indoor farm in a neighborhood with an asphalt plant, a former metal foundry, a roofing company, and three nearby highways. As a result, the community has some of the highest rates of asthma, lead poisoning, and heart disease in Minnesota. Little Earth, an Indigenous-preference housing complex founded in association with the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, sits just two blocks away from the contested Roof Depot site.
The neighborhood currently has air quality data available from one regulatory monitor run by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), as well as three PurpleAir sensors run by the City of Minneapolis Community Air Monitoring Project, measuring fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ). The regulatory monitor is located on the Midtown Greenway where it intersects E 28th St., and it measures PM2.5, total suspended particles, and lead. Regarding sensors, one is located at the intersection of E 25th St. and 17th Ave S, another is located at the intersection of E 27th St. and 18th Ave S, and an additional one is located at the Cedar Avenue Bridge.
Just outside of the neighborhood, MPCA runs two other regulatory air monitors. The Near Road I-35/I-94 site sits half a mile north in the Ventura Village neighborhood and measures carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, volatile organic compounds, carbonyls, total suspended particulate, metals including lead, and PM2.5. The Andersen School site monitors volatile organic compounds, carbonyls, total suspended particulate, and metals, including lead, and PM2.5.
East Phillips currently has 10 active air permits within their neighborhood. MPCA’s records going back to July of 2021 show that none of these permits have been violated, though the Smith Foundry was issued a permit violation in 2023 and ceased operations entirely in 2024. In March of 2025, the City of Minneapolis also fined the contractor demolishing Smith Foundry for failing to control dust pollution. Nearby Abbott Northwestern Hospital (in Midtown Phillips) was issued a $50,000 fine in 2023 after beginning construction on its updated utility plant before obtaining the required air permit amendment.
Air monitoring objectives
We want to monitor particulate matter in the East Phillips neighborhood to understand the impacts of dust and smoke on air pollution in the community, with the goal of using the data to work with the City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Health Department, and MPCA to come up with solutions to decrease pollution from transportation, burning, and local industry. One specific concern the neighborhood would like to monitor is the impact of the demolition of the Smith Foundry. There are concerns that contractors are not following health ordinances and that community members near the foundry are being exposed to unhealthy levels of dust pollution. An additional concern of the community is transportation-related pollution due to highways with significant traffic volumes.