Overview:
-EES Coke Battery on Zug Island has filed for a Clean Air Act exemption offered by the Trump administration.
-Dearborn Works, Carmeuse Lime, and DTE's Monroe Power Plant are also eligible, according to a map created by environmental groups.
-“No company polluting our Great Lakes and Midwest communities should be allowed a ‘get out of jail free card,’” says the Environmental Law and Policy Center's Howard Learner.
More than 500 industrial facilities nationwide could receive a pollution pass from the Trump administration with the click of a button — including EES Coke Battery in River Rouge, which has already applied for one.
The DTE Energy-owned plant is among those listed on a new map released by a coalition of health, community, and environmental groups tracking sites eligible for presidential exemptions under the Clean Air Act.
In late March, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin started an email inbox to allow polluters to seek a presidential exemption to Clean Air Act rules. The invitation encourages facilities to seek two-year extensions to their deadlines to comply with air pollution standards.
During this period, industries may not be required to enact pollution controls that would otherwise be mandatory under existing EPA standards.
Zoom in to Detroit on the map released April 30 by the Environmental Defense Fund of facilities that could receive exemptions, and you’ll find EES Coke Battery, Carmeuse Lime, Cleveland-Cliffs-owned Dearborn Works, and DTE Energy’s coal-fired Monroe Power Plant listed.
EES Coke Battery, owned by DTE Energy and located on Zug Island in River Rouge, applied for a Clean Air Act exemption, Vice President David Smith told Planet Detroit.
“EES Coke complies with all regulations governing the site at the state and federal level that protect public health. EES Coke has filed for a Clean Air Act exemption to allow a limited timing extension for meeting specific targets,” Smith said.
“We remain committed to responsibly operating under all regulations while our plant serves a critical function, producing coke to fuel the steel industry and supporting more than 170 jobs in the community.”
EES Coke Battery is the fifth-worst polluter in the state for sulfur dioxide emissions and fourth-worst for fine particulate matter, according to a report released last year by advocacy group Industrious Labs.
When asked about the Monroe Power Plant, a DTE Energy spokesperson said the utility has no plans to pursue presidential exemptions for “energy efforts at our power generating facilities.”
DTE has a diverse generation portfolio that provides customers with “the safe, reliable and affordable energy they demand and deserve,” said spokesperson Amanda Passage.
“We will continue to follow state and federal clean energy laws in a way that ensures we deliver on this commitment to our customers.”
Carmeuse Lime and Dearborn Works did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
‘Millions of Americans in harm’s way’
The national map created by environmental groups includes industrial sources – such as coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers, sterilizers, and other toxic-emitting facilities – covered by nine air toxics standards, according to the press release.
“[These] standards protect people from pollution that can cause brain damage in young children, cancer, and severe heart and lung disease,” according to the Environmental Defense Fund, which co-produced the map with the Environmental Integrity Project.
Jeremy Symons, senior advisor at the Environmental Protection Network, previously told Planet Detroit the EPA’s move is unethical.
“Lee Zeldin is setting up a system where he and the president can hand out political favors at the expense of public health,” Symons said. “That’s an incredibly dangerous new direction that is a sharp departure from any prior administration.”
Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the move “puts millions of Americans in harm’s way” in a press release.
“Communities across America are at risk, and people now have to worry more about their children getting sick from breathing toxic air pollution and their family members getting cancer,” Patton said.
The directive from the Trump administration comes a little more than a year after the EPA revised its National Ambient Air Quality Standards in February 2024, lowering the annual PM2.5 standard from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter.
In response, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy notified the EPA on Feb. 7 that Wayne and Kalamazoo counties do not meet the new standard, triggering the process for the counties’ redesignation as nonattainment areas.
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The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has alerted the EPA that Wayne and Kalamazoo counties fail to meet the updated air quality standards for fine particulate matter, initiating their redesignation as nonattainment areas.
Study: DTE-owned EES Coke among worst polluters, causing premature deaths
A new report from Industrious Labs reveals that Michigan’s coal-based steel and coke facilities are causing an estimated 40-80 premature deaths and over 20,000 asthma cases annually, with the EES Coke facility in River Rouge, owned by DTE Energy, ranking among the state’s worst industrial polluters.
How Trump air quality exemptions could impact Detroiters’ health
Dearborn Works, owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, will idle its basic oxygen furnace steel shop and continuous casting facilities this summer, the Detroit Free Press reported in March. The finishing facilities at Dearborn Works, including the pickling line tandem cold mill and continuous galvanizing line, will remain operational with 550 employees, the report said.
Steel pickling lines emit hydrochloric acid, a hazardous air pollutant. Chronic exposure to hydrochloric acid has been reported to cause gastritis, chronic bronchitis, dermatitis, and photosensitization, according to the EPA.
Coke ovens like DTE-owned EES Coke Battery emit hazardous air pollutants benzene, mercury, lead, and arsenic, according to the EPA.
According to the CDC, the health impacts from long-term exposure to benzene include leukemia. Mercury can affect the nervous system and kidneys. Exposure to lead can seriously damage childhood development. And ingesting high levels of arsenic can result in death, and exposure to lower levels can cause nausea and vomiting, abnormal heart rhythm, and damage to blood vessels.
Carmeuse Lime Inc. in River Rouge releases carbon dioxide as a major emission from lime manufacturing, according to the EPA. Carbon dioxide can cause headaches, difficulty breathing, and increased heart rate, according to the CDC.
DTE-owned Monroe Power Plant, located about 30 miles south of Detroit, is a coal-fired facility. It is slated for retirement in 2032, according to DTE. Burning coal at power plants creates emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide — which together form particulate matter — along with carbon dioxide, mercury, and other pollutants, according to the EPA.
Long-term exposure to sulfur dioxide at high levels increases respiratory symptoms, and short exposures to peak levels can make it difficult for people with asthma to breathe when they are active outdoors, according to the American Lung Association.
Nitrogen oxide exposure in the short-term can aggravate respiratory diseases, and longer exposures may contribute to the development of asthma, the EPA states. Particulate matter can be inhaled deep into the lungs and may enter the bloodstream, impacting the lungs and heart.
The Monroe Plant, along with the Belle River Power Plant in St. Clair County, are DTE’s last remaining coal-fired plants, the Detroit Free Press reported. DTE has said it plans to stop burning coal at its Belle River Power Plant, making the Monroe Plant its last remaining coal-fired power plant, the Free Press said.
Nationwide, 68 polluting facilities have received an EPA exemption, 220 are seeking an exemption, and there is no information for 250 facilities, according to data from the Environmental Defense Fund map.
“No company polluting our Great Lakes and Midwest communities should be allowed a ‘get out of jail free card,’” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said in the press release.
In 2012 and 2013, EES Coke received high-priority violations of its Clean Air Act renewable operating permit from EGLE, leading to a 2015 consent order for required fixes. After three years, the state denied the company’s request to end the order due to unmet requirements.
While EES Coke is now in compliance, the violation will remain unresolved in the state regulator’s database until EES Coke requests and EGLE approves the order’s termination, according to EGLE spokesperson Josef Greenberg.
EES Coke and DTE Energy are defendants in a federal Clean Air Act lawsuit filed by the EPA over sulfur dioxide emissions.
The state issued a high-priority violation of its Clean Air Act National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Carmeuse Lime in 2023, and signed a consent order in February 2024 with a one-year agreement. Greenberg said the company has complied and could terminate the order. Until the company makes that request, the violation remains “unresolved” in the EPA’s database.
An amended consent decree issued on April 5, 2024, to Cleveland Cliffs-owned Dearborn Works, resolved multiple violations from a 2015 consent decree. The company faced a joint federal and state enforcement action for its violation of the Clean Air Act. Dearborn Works is still compliant, Greenberg said, and no new violations have been issued.