DTE’s Zug Island operation switched fuel sources after damage to facility: Court testimony

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Zug Island’s EES Coke Battery has exclusively used coke oven gas as fuel since 2013, and unused gas is burned off at the facility’s flare stack — the orange flame on the island that’s visible to nearby Detroit neighborhoods.

The process releases sulfur dioxide into the air.

That’s according to Michael Shafer, who testified Friday in a federal bench trial of an EPA lawsuit against the facility and its owner, DTE Energy, over sulfur dioxide emissions. 

The burning of unused coke oven gas is “not a decision, it’s an automated process,” said Shafer, who works for the utility’s DTE Vantage subsidiary and was called by DTE lawyers as a witness.

“It has to find a home. Whatever is not used has to be diverted to the flare stack.”

U.S. Steel’s Zug Island operations and DTE’s River Rouge Power Plant both used excess coke oven gas from EES Coke Battery as fuel, Shafer said. The River Rouge Power Plant is closed, and the U.S. Steel hot strip mill is no longer operational, he said. 

DTE’s Zug Island facility switches fuel sources after finding brickwork damage

EES Coke Battery produces coke, a raw material in the steelmaking process. 

The facility is designed to primarily use blast furnace gas as fuel. A change was made after “significant damage” to its regenerator brickwork was discovered in 2011 or 2012, Shafer said.

EES Coke Battery was concerned the damage could be irreversible, he said.

Blast furnace gas contributed to the damage, and continued use could have made the battery inoperable, he said, adding that a repair attempt would be dangerous and expensive, with no guarantee of success. 

EES Coke Battery’s previous permit placed limits on how much coke oven gas it could burn at underfire, Shafer said. 

EES Coke Battery emitted significantly more emissions than its 2014 Clean Air Act permit allowed, and the coke oven facility failed to comply with the reporting requirements of Michigan’s environmental regulator in 2018 and 2019, U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain said in an Aug. 25 ruling in the EPA lawsuit. 

The U.S. government is seeking injunctive relief and penalties of up to $109,024 per day, per violation in the lawsuit, and asserts that EES Coke Battery should cease operations until it is fully compliant with environmental regulations. 

Coal blend is EES Coke Battery’s main pollution control : DTE Vantage exec

If a pollution control system were installed at EES Coke Battery, it could take three years after a permit is issued to complete its design, installation, and “shakeout” period, Shafer said.

Desulfurization at EES Coke Battery, or the process of removing sulfur dioxide emissions, involves either desulfurizing the fuel the facility uses, or removing sulfur dioxide from the facility’s flue gas and scrubbing it out, the DTE Vantage executive said.

Shafer echoed previous testimony from EES Coke Battery Vice President David Smith, who said the coke battery burns low-sulfur coal that costs about $60 more per ton than regular coal. 

The coal blend used at EES Coke Battery is the facility’s primary means of controlling sulfur dioxide emissions, Shafer said. 

Friday’s testimony covered multiple instances in EES Coke Battery’s history when the company studied pollution control technology. 

Under cross-examination by U.S. attorney Tom Benson, Shafer said EES Coke Battery hired two consultants in 2011 to study desulfurization “in case there was some imposition of sulfur removal.”

Benson showed an email from Shafer’s boss from this time period that said EES Coke Battery was built with the anticipation of the installation of desulfurization in the future. 

One pollution control strategy that EES Coke Battery explored would remove an additional 33% of sulfur dioxide emissions at a capital cost of $18 million, Shafer said. 

Michael Hindelang, an attorney for DTE Energy, EES Coke Battery, and other DTE-owned companies, said: “In 2018, if feasible technology had been put in place, there would have been no violation,” referring to a Clean Air Act violation. 

Shafer agreed with this statement, and said it appears the reduction in sulfur dioxide achieved with pollution controls “would have more than offset” EES Coke Battery’s increased sulfur dioxide emissions. 

Virginia Galinsky, an environmental engineer at the EPA Region 5 office, testified last week that pollution controls could reduce EES Coke Battery’s sulfur dioxide emissions by 95%. 

Shafer said Friday that a 95% reduction is impossible, stating that 14% of EES Coke Battery’s sulfur dioxide emissions “cannot be removed.” 

Hindelang asked Shafer whether EES Coke Battery made a choice not to install pollution control technology. Shafer said no.

Hindelang then asked whether the facility made a choice to prioritize profits over the health and safety of River Rouge residents, and Shafer again said no.

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