The future can be seen with an open mind
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
TWIN CITY
Across the St. Mary's River and over the International Bridge is the twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We share the responsibility to ensure the preservation and maintenance of our beautiful Great Lakes. When we collaborate, we can succeed in protecting this precious resource and all life that depends on it.
Shared RESPONSIBILTY
A Respectful Partnership
After more than century of abuse from our activities, we are now moving towards a positive direction by limiting our impacts to the once pristine waters of our Great Lakes. Our progress cannot restore them to their original state but we can we work to protect them against further decline. Justifying the improvements in our efforts to delist the St. Mary's River as an Area of Concern, can not be meet with more activities such as a ferrochrome processing facility that will
set us back. The traditional ways and life of First Nations, and their respect for creation has existed long before our activities which have resulted in the issues we are experiencing today.
We rely on the freshwater of the Great Lakes for life as well as the wildlife that call it home.
The Great Lakes have forgiven us for over a century, it is time we accept our responsibility.
A Cleaner Future
We have gained an immense knowledge and awareness of our impacts to the wildlife and water quality of the Great Lakes.
We cannot repeat the same activities we know caused these issues and must understand that the environment and the recovery of the Great Lakes requires a commitment to collaborate despite economic interests.
" Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." – Ryunosuke Satoro
KEEPING YOUR AIR CLEAN
US Air Quality Standards
Since 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and other agencies such as the Allegheny County Health Department, have been implementing stricter air standards and fines for coke oven battery emissions and steelmaking operations compared to those in Ontario. Enforcing air standards in Ontario can be inconsistent and appears to be associated with the level of interest by the local ministry and politicians to hold polluters accountable in their community.
In the 1990s, the US EPA developed Method 9 for visible emissions and Method 303 for coke oven battery operations, to regulate and protect the people and the environment from toxic and harmful contaminants from industrial sources. All US steelmakers had to meet very strict standards by 2010. There were no standards for coke oven batteries in Ontario until the US EPA Method 303 was adopted by the ministry (MECP) in 2015. Most of the violations of these standards rarely see fines for Ontario steelmakers compared to steelmakers in the US.
Facing similar technical challenges, US Steel Clairton in Pittsburgh, sees regular fines from the Allegheny County Health Department for stack opacity violations and violations exceeding Method 303 limits. Despite steelmakers like Algoma Steel having a greater number of violations compared to US Steel Clairton, they receive little to no fines. Algoma Steel's No. 7 battery averages over twice the opacity limit every month for over 4 years, and there has been no fines issued. Recently, ArcelorMittal Dofasco in Hamilton was fined for stack opacity violations and an upset from their blast furnace in 2018. These fines are often paid to benefit the communities directly impacted.
Although there are established limits in Ontario using Method 9 and Method 303, the are no public records of fines for any violations at Algoma Steel in the past 4 years despite the health risks of coke oven battery emissions and particulate matter from steelmaking operations. Ontario's approach to regulating air quality can be remarkably different from the regulations in the US. fine particulate matter such as PM2.5 is a serious health hazard, but it is not currently regulated.
Algoma CLC Meeting #35 Minutes on December 08, 2020:
David Trowbridge (Public Member) – There was a press release yesterday where the US EPA was reducing the limits for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) from 12 ug/m3 to 9 ug/m3. The USA has half of Ontario’s limit for PM2.5. Why is PM2.5 not being regulated by the MECP?
Fred Post (Algoma Steel) – This was discussed at a previous CLC meeting where Scott Grant from the MECP explained that PM2.5 forms as a result of multiple other contaminants in the atmosphere including but not limited to NOx and SOx. It is impossible to regulate PM2.5 as a whole without regulating the contaminants that form it. Therefore the MECP’s approach is to regulate each of these contaminants separately.
We aim to meet US standards but the steel industry in Ontario and the MECP, are hesitant and reluctant to accept these standards
Time for Change
Research by the MECP on the impacts of air quality from industry are limited. Ontario commonly relies on the data and methodology developed and used by the US EPA.
Air regulations are violated thousands of times every year by steelmakers in Ontario and there are very few fines for those emissions.
Low fines are often meet with large government loans and incentives to the companies that pollute.
Protect the health and the environment for future generations by expressing your views and opinions about our air quality.
Demand better air quality standards in our community and all of Ontario by contacting the Federal Minister of the Environment,
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault.
26th President of the United States of America
Theodore Roosevelt
"To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed".