Environmentalists, steel mills spar over emissions

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- Steel mills in northwest Indiana are asking state lawmakers to relax some air-pollution rules to help streamline industrial regulations, but environmentalists insist doing so is bound to hurt air quality.\nThe disagreement centers on a portion of Senate Bill 440 that would suspend Indiana's emission rules for steel mills and foundries. If approved, it would allow any state standard to be suspended for five years if that standard is more restrictive than the federal government's.\nVersions of the bill have been adopted by both the House and Senate. The legislation is currently in a conference committee to work out differences between the two chambers.\nU.S. Steel spokesman Mike Dixon said state rules restricting what pollutants may be released make the industrial-permit process difficult.\nMaking specialized equipment that can meet the rules is costly and becomes more so for a company such as U.S. Steel that has facilities in more than one state.\nBy streamlining the process, environmentally friendly technology could be introduced more quickly, Dixon said.\n"We think overall it's positive in that it will reduce emissions overall," Dixon said.\nAt the company's Gary Works steel mill, Dixon pointed to the reuse of coke oven gas as an opportunity to reduce pollution that is made more difficult by state regulations.\n"If we can use that in the boilers of the plant, there will be some benefit derived because we won't have to use as much natural gas," Dixon said. "Gary Works has to flare off coke oven gas it could be burning and recycling without any impact on the environment."\nBut Charlotte Read, assistant director of Save the Dunes, scoffed at claims that lowering emissions standards would help the environment.\n"If you're in an area where the air quality is bad ... enacting stricter standards is a way to improve air quality," said Read, whose group works to preserve delicate sand dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan.\nRead is worried the five-year suspension will prevent improvements to the state's environmental laws.\n"The Legislature seems to be saying, 'Let's go backward,'" Read said.\nState environmental officials say their biggest worry is that some federal regulations leave a lot of leeway to states.\n"Our concern on this type of legislation is it could be construed as limiting our options," said Tim Method, deputy commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.\nIf rules are suspended for steel mills and foundries, Method said, tougher emission standards may have to be placed on cars or other industries to meet clean-air standards.\n"It wouldn't be a level playing field," Method told the Post-Tribune for a story published Monday.\nState officials want to see the permit process streamlined for projects that will improve the environment, Method said, but not at the cost of giving up regulatory authority.\n"We want to make sure we don't lose control over projects that may not benefit the environment," he said.