Michigan: regulators approve air pollution permit for Zug Island coke facility

On June 11, Michigan regulators approved an air quality permit for a secondary coke screener at DTE Energy’s EES Coke Facility on Zug Island. The facility produces coke for the steel industry. Coke is produced by heating coal in an oxygen-free environment. The screener separates coke by size, allowing its use to heat iron ore as part of the steelmaking process. According to EES Coke Battery Vice President David Smith, the new permit does not represent an expansion of the Zug Island facility. It only allows the installation of a secondary screener operated within an enclosed building to prevent particulates from becoming airborne. In this sense, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) said the new screener would emit 1.6 tons of particulate matter, 0.82 tons of PM10, and 0.23 tons of fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, per year. In February, Jenifer Dixon, planning and policy coordinator for EGLE’s Air Quality Division, said the coke screener would improve EES Coke’s existing operations.
The new permit comes as EES Coke faces a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over federal Clean Air Act Violations. The Zug Island facility has also been accused of several environmental violations by EGLE, even a few days before the approval of the air quality permit. In 2024, a study by Industrious Lab, a research and advocacy organization, said EES Coke facilities in Michigan contributed to several premature deaths and thousands of asthma cases per year. Andrew Bashi, staff attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, criticized the decision to grant the permit, saying it could make it difficult to bring the area into compliance with federal air quality standards.