Edward C Levy Plant No. 6, located at 13800 Mellon Street in Detroit, has received its 12th violation notice since 2018 for fallout detected on property outside the facility.
The plant, which processes steel slag from its neighbor Cleveland Cliffs (formerly AK Steel), is a major source of air pollution at the border of Southwest Detroit and Dearborn. State inspectors wrote in the violation notice that testing of the chemical make-up of the fallout was consistent with steel slag processed at the plant. Steel slag is a liquid byproduct of steelmaking.
This violation marks the third this year. EGLE entered into escalated enforcement with Edward C Levy last September for the repeated fallout violations since 2018, as well nuisance odors from its Dearborn location. The company operates eight facilities in Dearborn, Detroit and downriver.
Jill Greenberg, spokesperson for EGLE’s air quality division, said discussions are ongoing. To reach a final consent order, the state must approve plans for minimizing odor and controlling fugitive dust. They will assess any fines for previous violations during the escalation process.
Greenberg stated that she does not know whether the dust found in Melvindale posed a risk to public health. The contents of the fallout sample were slag, quartz and calcite.
Stuart Batterman, an environmental health researcher at the University of Michigan, said that dust from steel slag likely contains toxic metals like cadmium and lead.
“Given Detroit’s manufacturing legacy, there are hundreds of facilities that are metal and metal product manufacturers, processors and recyclers throughout the city,” he wrote in an email. “Fugitive dust can and should be controlled using enclosed storage and handling facilities, paving truck areas, and housekeeping measures like street and tire/vehicle cleaning.”
While the Levy plant is located in a highly industrial area, according to the EPA, more than 5,000 people live within a mile of the plant on Mellon St., and roughly two-thirds of the population are low-income households.
Meanwhile, Edward C. Levy has applied to the state for a new permit to construct a cement grinding plant a few miles east in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood at 8941 Jefferson Avenue West, where it will be processing more steel slag.
Theresa Landrum, an environmental justice community advocate, says the state should not award Edward C Levy with a new permit with so many ongoing violations.
“Something has to give. If you continue to violate the laws, like driving while drunk or getting a lot of tickets, they take your license. Why shouldn’t that happen with these companies as well?” Landrum said.
In an email, Reuben Maxbauer, director of Edward C. Levy, stated that the company is “actively working with EGLE to assess and resolve this issue.”
“We’ve worked in Southeast Michigan for over 100 years,” he wrote. “Environmental stewardship, community relationships, and good governance are central to how we operate as a company. We are committed to the environment and care deeply about the communities around our plants.”
He added that the new permit the company is applying for on Jefferson “is for an entirely different process from the operation on Mellon St.”
When a company receives a violation notice, it must respond formally to the state. The company has until mid-October to investigate and respond to the violation.
In response to fallout violations from this summer, Edward C. Levy stated it did not believe their facility was responsible. Last year, the company did find an issue with their slag pot watering stations and changed where it dumps slag to help prevent dust.
Residents can comment on the conditions of the proposed permit on West Jefferson in a virtual public meeting held on October 18 at 6 p.m. Greenberg stated residents can request special conditions to the permit, like increased monitoring on a public website.
To learn more about air quality permit violations across the state, visit Planet Detroit’s Michigan Air Permit Violations tracker.