WASHINGTON, D. C. - Ohio’s Sherrod Brown on Monday led a group of Democratic U.S. Senators in a letter asking President Joe Biden to reject a trio of Environmental Protection Agency emissions proposals that he says would devastate Cleveland-Cliffs and United States Steel Corporation and cost American jobs.
“As proposed, the rules would impact every component of integrated steel production, from the extraction and processing of taconite iron ore in Michigan and Minnesota to the production of coke in Warren, Ohio,” says the letter signed by both Pennsylvania senators, as well as Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
“The promulgation of even one of these rules would cause major hardship and financial drain on these companies; the combination of the three will have far-reaching, adverse consequences that will threaten the viability of the two remaining U.S.-based integrated steel companies,” the letter continues.
The three rules revise hazardous air pollution emission standards for integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities, for taconite iron ore processing amendments, and for coke ovens.
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Although EPA says the rules are feasible to implement and will significantly cut pollutants, the senators argue that they’d bring about marginal air quality improvements at a high cost that “stands to eliminate the pool of capital needed to invest in workforce, as well as transformational projects that lead to new, more advanced steel grades and needed decarbonization technologies.
“The U.S. steel industry and its workforce already compete on an uneven global playing field when it comes to foreign subsidies, rampant polluting, and unfair cheating when it comes to trade,” it continues “These proposed rules would further skew the market to the benefit of foreign manufacturers and state-owned enterprises, held to less stringent environmental standards.”
Some environmental groups argued that the rules weren’t tough enough, with a Pittsburgh-based organization called The Breathe Project telling EPA that Southwestern Pennsylvania “clearly needs a more health protective standard for hazardous air pollutants from steelmaking facilities.” It asked for greater emissions reduction, better monitoring, and a change in the rule’s sunset provision so that monitoring is gradually reduced rather than abruptly stopping.
“The environmental justice concerns are clear, substantial, and must play a prominent role in setting updated standards,” said a letter from the organization, which describes itself as “a coalition of citizens, environmental advocates, public health professionals and academics working to improve air quality and eliminate climate pollution.”
A statement that Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO Lourenco Goncalves released through Brown’s office said the three rules “threaten the very future of integrated steelmaking in the United States just as our investments are beginning to show real benefit for workers, host communities and the environment.
“Cleveland-Cliffs operates some of the cleanest, lowest-emitting integrated steel mills in the world. In recent years, we have invested well over $1 billion to advance steel decarbonization, hire skilled workers and further reduce the environmental impact of our operations,” his statement said. “We are willing to further reduce emissions, but EPA rules must be technically feasible and economically justified.”
Brown and a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators wrote a separate letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan in December that argued the rules “dramatically undermine the domestic steel industry and national security while driving production overseas likely resulting in no net reduction in emissions from the steel industry globally.”
The letter to Biden said they felt the approach they sought in their December letter did not materialize.
“We implore you and your Administration to reassess each of these rules and use its discretion to work with impacted stakeholders – including affected companies and labor unions representing workers at steel facilities across the U.S. – to achieve feasible regulations that preserve the economic competitiveness of American steel,” their letter concluded.