Overview:
-The request follows the closure of two DTE Energy coal power plants in the nonattainment area.
-Sulfur dioxide, a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, poses health risks such as asthma and other respiratory problems.
-The area along the Detroit River from downtown Detroit to Lake Erie has been in nonattainment since 2013, according to the EPA.
A request has been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to redesignate parts of Wayne County comprising Southwest Detroit and Downriver communities as in attainment for sulfur dioxide pollution limits, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said Wednesday.
The development comes after a public hearing was held in January to discuss redesignating parts of southwest Detroit and Downriver as meeting federal sulfur dioxide (SO2) air quality standards. The area along the Detroit River from downtown Detroit to Lake Erie has been in nonattainment since 2013, according to the EPA.
The changes made to the state environmental regulator’s request after public comment was received include a correction to the combustion stack emission limit for the EES Coke Battery facility on Zug Island.
The EPA will review the request and decide whether it meets Clean Air Act requirements, and the federal agency has 18 months to approve or deny the request, according to EGLE.
Sulfur dioxide is one of six criteria pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act. The nonattainment designation means that polluters in the area have faced stricter regulatory oversight for sulfur dioxide emissions, which can trigger asthma after short-term exposure and cause other respiratory problems, as Planet Detroit has previously reported.
Sulfur dioxide can also react with other compounds to form fine particulate matter or PM 2.5, which is linked to cardiopulmonary problems and premature mortality.
The move to redesignate the area follows the closure of DTE Energy’s River Rouge and Trenton Channel coal power plants and state and federal efforts to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution from other sources in an area that still sees high levels of industrial emissions.
The active sources of sulfur dioxide pollution included in the EPA’s model are U.S. Steel facilities in Ecorse and on Zug Island, EES Coke Battery, Carmeuse Lime in River Rouge, DTE Energy’s Monroe Power Plant, Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp. in Dearborn, the Dearborn Industrial Generation power plant in Dearborn, and the Marathon Petroleum Corp. refinery in Detroit.
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Michigan regulators will hold an online public hearing on Jan. 28 to discuss redesignating parts of southwest Detroit and Downriver as meeting federal sulfur dioxide (SO2) air quality standards. For more than a decade, regulators have designated a region along the Detroit River from downtown Detroit to Lake Erie as being in “nonattainment” under the…
