Northwest Indiana residents and activists testified in a series of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearings regarding new rules for coke and steelmaking.
“The people who live in fenceline communities like Gary and our region should be protected from the prolonged and ongoing exposure to hazardous air pollutants,” said Dorreen Carey, a Gary resident and president of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development. “Our beautiful and globally unique ecosystem and Lake Michigan drinking water for millions should be protected. It is the job of the EPA to protect us, to protect human health and the environment.”
The agency hosted public hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, dedicated to its national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for coke ovens and integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities. The iron and steel hearing was Wednesday, and the coke ovens hearings was Thursday.
On June 30, the EPA issued an interim final rule for national emission standards for integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities, which revises all 2025 and 2026 compliance dates for standards to April 3, 2027, according to EPA documents.
Integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities include any facility engaged in producing steel from refined iron ore, according to the EPA.
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.
Several 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.
U.S. Steel responded to the hearings in a Thursday statement. The company is committed to working with the EPA and supports “regulations that are well-grounded in law and are based on sound science, available and proven technology, and that consider costs and other non-air quality impacts,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, the 2024 rule does not meet these criteria,” U.S. Steel’s statement said. “In addition, implementation of the 2024 rule would have provided little, if any, environmental benefit while significantly impacting American jobs and the nation’s critical infrastructure. EPA recently determined that emissions from integrated iron and steelmaking facilities, including Gary Works, are protective of human health and the environment with an ample margin of safety. Any delay in compliance deadlines does not change our continued commitment to environmental performance and safety.”
Chris Hardin, environmental manager for U.S. Steel, testified during Wednesday’s hearing, emphasizing that the interim final rule deadlines are infeasible and based on insufficient data and miscalculations.
The Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill as seen from the International Port of Indiana in Burns Harbor on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. (Michael Gard for the Post-Tribune)
Hardin also said on Wednesday that the EPA needs to fully consider all relevant factors before finalizing the rule.
U.S. Steel does not have coke ovens at the Gary Works facility, but coke is produced at the Mon Valley Works’ Clairton plant near Pittsburgh.
During the EPA’s Thursday hearing, Michael Long, Cleveland-Cliffs’ senior director of environmental affairs, said the organization supports “environmental regulations that are based on sound science and prudent technology.” The company has worked with the EPA for several years to provide accurate data and information that could help with industry-wide regulations, Long said.
He added during Thursday’s hearing that revising compliance deadlines doesn’t expose anyone to harm, but compliance deadlines of less than three years are infeasible for the company.
“The technologies that would be needed … are not commercially available and have not been demonstrated to work in the coke byproduct industry either in the U.S. or internationally,” Long said. “EPA did not anticipate that we would need to research and develop technologies that have not been implemented in the coke sector, that might not be feasible…”
Michael Olis, Indiana director of the nonprofit organization Mighty Earth, also testified during Thursday’s coke hearing. Olis said coke oven emissions are among some of the most toxic air pollutants.
“Occupational exposure studies of coke oven workers have shown significant increases of mortality from cancers of the respiratory tract, kidney and prostate cancer,” Olis said. “One recent study showed that eliminating coke ovens and pollution in a community cut the number of emergency room visits for heart attacks and cardiovascular incidents in half.”
Olis encouraged the EPA to implement rules that will help lower emissions and improve public health.
During Wednesday’s steel hearing, Hilary Lewis, steel director at Industrious Labs, said the interim final rule would be nearly 20% less effective if compliance deadlines are moved, and the EPA would knowingly harm community health.
“The EPA must prioritize community health, which is currently suffering as a result of coal-based iron and steel production with limited insight,” Lewis said.
A previous Industrious Labs report found that emissions from 17 U.S. coal-based steel and coke plants contribute to an estimated 892 premature deaths, more than 250,000 cases of asthma symptoms and more than $13 billion in health costs annually.
“In the over 100-year history of coal-based steelmaking in the U.S., 2025 is already a dangerously late time to just be starting defense line air monitoring, and further delays will only cause more harm,” Lewis said. “We need air monitoring because reported emissions can leave out some sources, can leave out unexpected emissions, and may not include all uncertainties and calculations.”
Allan Halline, a retired physician in Ogden Dunes and member of GARD, testified Wednesday, saying that he opposes the changes to EPA’s interim final rule.
Halline told the EPA that he would like to see actions that would hold steel mills accountable, and that work to lessen air pollutants, which he said permeate the lungs, enter the bloodstream or nasal passage, and can travel to the brain within hours and trigger a “cascade of inflammatory and damaging responses” to every organ in the body.
He also told the EPA what illnesses air pollution is linked to, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and depression.
“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,” Halline said. “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.”