Walz tours wood stove plant in Tower

TOWER— Garrett Lamppa had little warning that Gov. Tim Walz would be making a stop at the family business at which he’s recently taken the reins from his father Daryl.
“It all happened in about a day and a half,” said Lamppa, who had received a call from the governor’s planner, telling him that the state’s chief executive wanted to tour their plant, recently built with $1.85 million in funding from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation.
It was a private visit by the governor, whose staff had asked Lamppa not to alert local media of the visit.
Lamppa wasn’t sure what to expect. He told his workers, several of whom are avid Trump supporters, to behave themselves around the DFL governor, who wanted a better understanding of the challenges the company has faced as it expanded its operations in the past few years.
The company, largely through the efforts of Daryl Lamppa, has created North America’s cleanest burning wood furnace and they’ve been expecting rapid growth as the federal Environmental Protection Agency has begun prohibiting the sale of wood furnaces that don’t meet strict standards. But bureaucratic bungling by the EPA left the business in dire straits late last year, although the issues have been resolved and the company now appears back on track.
Lamppa said the visit, lasting a little over an hour, was a positive one that left just about everyone at the plant impressed. “He met all the employees and went into a lot of detail on each of their jobs,” he said. “He started asking my dad how he came up with the ideas for reducing emissions and my dad told him some things I’d never even heard before.”
Lamppa said Walz talked about the importance of small businesses, particularly manufacturing businesses, like Lamppa Manufacturing. While Walz acknowledged that the media focus is often on Fortune 500 companies, he said companies like Lamppa Manufacturing are critical to the economic success of small towns in Minnesota.
“He came across as very interested and genuine,” said Lamppa. “He couldn’t have come across any better.”
The governor was accompanied by state Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina, along with the governor’s communications staff and security detail.