The Payne-Phalen Community Council is a nonprofit citizen participation district for the neighborhood encompassing Northern Iron.

In June 2025, Payne Phalen Community Council Board of Directors unanimously voted to issue the following statement:

The Payne Phalen Community Council strongly supports the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s recent steps to begin permit revocation for Northern Iron and Machine at 867 Forest Street North in St. Paul. The Community Council reiterates and emphasizes our very strong concerns about the public health harms generated by this facility and the staggering burden of these harms endured by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, workers inside the facility, and in communities across St. Paul.

The Dayton's Bluff neighborhood is directly across from Northern Iron (which sits on the neighborhood border). The Dayton's Bluff Community Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of revoking Northern Iron's permit. 

The Council is concerned about Northern Iron's repeated violations by Northern Iron and believes that residents have a right to breathe clean air. 

The Greater Eastside Community Council, a neighborhood organization downwind from Northern Iron, sent a letter of support to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.