The Environmental Law and Policy Center and other Midwest organizations submitted comments to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management about proposed changes to a U.S. Steel Gary Works permit.
“These proposed modifications fail to set reasonable particulate matter emissions limits and make it difficult for IDEM and the public to know whether U.S. Steel is complying with those limits,” Elise Zaniker, associate attorney with ELPC, said in a statement. “The public has a right to know how much particulate matter this unit will emit and whether U.S. Steel is complying with its Title V air permit.”
The modification would revise sections of a permit that regulates the pig iron caster unit’s particulate matter emissions, which is a pollutant that can lead to increased rates of asthma, heart attacks and premature deaths, according to the ELPC.
Concerns with U.S. Steel’s potential permit modifications include: the compliance equation to determine particulate matter limits is “unclear, unenforceable and does not account for fugitive emissions”; the proposal requires emissions testing once every five years; part of the pig iron production process would be removed from the fugitive emissions listing based on U.S. Steel’s visual observation; and the modification may underestimate particulate matter emissions.
The ELPC submitted comments with the Environmental Integrity Project, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, National Parks Conservation Association, Conservation Law Center and Abrams Environmental Law Clinic.
“Gary Works can do better at maintaining and monitoring the production and pollution control equipment at the mill,” Dorreen Carey, president of GARD, said in a statement. “If you live in Gary, you can see the constant brown haze around the blast furnaces and the basic oxygen furnace, you can smell the noxious odors. It is IDEM’s responsibility to oversee and protect the health and environment of Indiana cities and residents and natural resources.”
U.S. Steel responded to the concerns in a Thursday statement, saying the permit revisions reflect the company’s commitment to environmental compliance.
In the statement, a company spokesperson said the original application was submitted before construction and “conservatively estimated emissions using available data from similar, but not identical processes to pig iron casting.”
“Because these assumptions were necessary, the permit required U.S. Steel to validate them through emission testing,” the statement said. “Upon startup of the pig iron caster, U.S. Steel conducted a series of emission evaluations to determine actual emissions from the caster. The purpose of the requested modification is to incorporate site-specific emission information developed through the emission studies. This modification will incorporate actual data, resulting in a more accurate and robust method for determining emissions so we may demonstrate compliance. This is typical when permitting new processes for which there is limited data.”
The comments come less than one week after IDEM hosted a public meeting at 21st Century Charter School of Gary about the pig iron permit modification. GARD encouraged people to attend and address concerns about the air pollution impact of particulate matter emissions, according to a Facebook post from the organization.
IDEM will make a decision about the permit modification at a later date.
Northwest Indiana environmentalists also testified in a series of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearings, regarding its national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for coke ovens and integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities.
On June 30, the EPA issued an interim final rule for national emission standards for integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities, which pushes back all 2025 and 2026 compliance dates for standards to April 3, 2027, according to EPA documents. The coke oven compliance deadlines would change from July 2025 to July 2027 if the interim final rule goes into effect, according to the EPA.
Northwest Indiana facilities are included in the rule updates, including U.S. Steel’s Gary Works facility and Cleveland-Cliffs’ Burns Harbor facility. The Indiana Harbor facility, which is operated by Cleveland-Cliffs and has a partnership with SunCoke Energy, is also included.
“Delaying compliance with these rules for two more years appeases the industry, ignores feasible solutions and does great harm to our environment and the health of people living and working in Northwest Indiana,” said Allan Halline, a retired physician and member of GARD. “As a physician who has personally witnessed the adverse health effects stemming from air pollution, I’m appalled by your actions. There are thousands of scientific publications dealing with the health effects of air pollution, and it’s clear that even the current standards are insufficient.”