Environmental groups oppose Cleveland Cliffs air permit renewal
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Citing concerns over proper monitoring and reporting, environmental watchdog groups in northwest Indiana are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel an air permit for Cleveland Cliff’s Indiana Harbor facility.
The permit was issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, but groups including the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Conservation Law Center and Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, say the permit fails to hold the Ohio-based steelmaker to standards set out in the Clean Air Act.
Last week the groups filed an official petition to the EPA, imploring the federal agency to step in.
“What we’re pretty much saying is that IDEM didn’t include enough. They didn’t include these monitoring, reporting and record keeping requirements on specific parts of the permit,” said Ellis Walton, an attorney with the ELPC. “If the permit is issued without them, then we don’t believe that Cleveland Cliffs will stay under their permitted emissions limits.”
EPA staff declined an interview request from Inside INdiana Business but said they have received and are reviewing the petition.
Cleveland Cliffs operates two connected facilities in East Chicago called Indiana Harbor East and Indiana Harbor West. Cleveland Cliffs bought the Indiana Harbor works from ArcelorMittal in 2020, along with an existing air permit.
That permit was up for renewal by IDEM, and over the past 18 months the state agency has worked with Cleveland Cliffs and heard public input on the topic. IDEM issued a draft permit in February and the EPA didn’t object.
But local activists are raising red flags.
Walton said their concerns boil down to whether the IDEM permit is in line with what the Clean Air Act mandates on certain monitoring and reporting items. Specifically, Walton said the IDEM permit doesn’t detail standards around particulate matter at Baghouses 187 and 188 at Indiana Harbor East.
The petition also feels IDEM’s permit, as is, fails to address federal standards on nitrous oxide emissions at Indiana Harbor East and the Nos. 6, 7 and 8 boilers at Indiana Harbor West.
“We’re not even arguing for IDEM to go past the set limits that Indiana and the EPA have set. We’re asking them to put in enforceable requirements and enough detailed language in the permit to make sure that the facility is complying with the laws that they have to comply with,” said Walton.
Cleveland Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment.
The petition from the ELPC and others comes as the Trump Administration moves to relax EPA regulations around air quality. In March, EPA Director Lee Zeldin publicly announced the administration would encourage companies to apply for a rarely-used exemption from the Clean Air Act subject to the president’s personal approval.
Those opposed call the measure a political maneuver that allows businesses to cozy up to the president in order to circumvent regulations.
In light of the current political climate, Walton said he hopes the EPA will rule fairly on the petition in East Chicago. He emphasized the ELPC and others are simply asking for the current law to be enforced.
“This isn’t supposed to be something that’s like, super [out of] left field or controversial.” Walton said. “We’re just simply asking the EPA to acquire IDEM to make a permit that that complies with the Clean Air Act. So if that’s a hard ask, then our public health is definitely in jeopardy.”
Multiple environmental studies over the past decade have shown northwest Indiana to have some of the worst air quality metrics.