EPA v. AK STEEL FKA SEVERSTAL DEARBORN - CD

Case summary

As memorialized in the attached Consent Decree Modification and discussed in greater detail below, when it owned Dearborn Works, AK Steel agreed to undertake an ESP Project to provide significantly more effective pollution control than the existing ESP. The cost of the ESP Project is estimated at $105,000,000. While Cliffs has now completed the ESP Project, the Consent Decree Modification requires a series of successive performance tests over a several-year period to demonstrate continuing compliance under different operating scenarios. Additional injunctive relief measures are discussed below. The core of the Consent Decree Modification is the ESP Project. It consists of: 1) replacing the four existing ESP casings (each of which contains eight fields) with four new casings (each of which contains ten fields); and 2) installing one new, fifth casing that has the same air handling capacity and pollution control efficiency as each of the new ESP casings (ten equivalent fields). The ESP project was designed to be carried out in five phases, one for each casing. The new ESP casing was scheduled to be installed not later than June 24, 2021, with the last casing replacement to be finished not later than March 31, 2023. Cliffs has represented that it has now completed installation of all five casings. As a result, the rebuilt ESP contains a total of 46 discharge electrode fields, comprised of five fields in each compartment of the four replaced casings (for a total of forty fields). The new casing/compartment adds an additional six fields that have a total equivalent field capacity of ten fields. Other injunctive relief provisions require Cliffs to: ? Conduct stack testing after the completion of each phase of the ESP project and comply with interim provisions related to maintaining a ?minimum draft? at the ESP inlet. ? Perform comprehensive performance testing upon completion of the ESP Project. More specifically, within 10 days after the Consent Decree Modification?s effective date, Cliffs must conduct an initial performance test, to be followed by eight successive quarterly performance tests over a multi-year period. ? Establish an ?operating standard,? which prescribes the minimum number of ESP fields that must be in operation at all times that the BOF is operating. ? Measure the VEs at the ESP stack by conducting EPA Method 9 observations for at least one steel production cycle each calendar week; and measure six-minute block averages using the COM system. If either the Method 9 observations or the COM data show an exceedance of the opacity standard, increased VE observations must be conducted. Furthermore, Cliffs will pay a civil penalty of $81,380 to Michigan for violating the Permit opacity, Pb and Mn limits. Cliffs has also agreed to implement a state-only SEP, the South Dearborn Residential Indoor Air Quality Project, in which approximately 1,000 residents in the vicinity of Dearborn Works will receive home air purifiers. The value of this SEP is approximately $244,000.

Defendants (1)

• SEVERSTAL DEARBORN, INC.Named in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• CLEVELAND-CLIFFS STEEL CORPORATION DEARBORN WORKS

  4001 MILLER ROAD, DEARBORN, MI, 48120

  Registry ID: 110060497001

Statutes cited

• CAA 502 — Operating Permits (Title V)
• CAA 110 — Implementation Plan for National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards

Enforcement conclusions (2)

• CLEVELAND CLIFFS - DEARBORN WORKS - CDentered 2024-04-05

  Primary law: CAA

  · State/local: $81,380 · SEP: $244,000

• AK STEEL FKA SEVERSTAL DEARBORN - CDentered 2015-08-21

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $676,563 · State/local: $676,563 · SEP: $337,000

Timeline (6 milestones)

• 2012-09-20Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2012-10-18Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2014-09-08Supplemental Referral-Adding parties, counts
• 2015-05-19Complaint Filed With Court
• 2023-10-19Final Order Lodged
• 2024-04-05Final Order Entered