ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s plan a ‘small step forward’: resident

A community member says ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s action plan to address air pollution events following a recent contentious black cloud of particulate emission is a “small step forward.”

Jochen Bezner, a Crown Point neighbourhood resident and member of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Community Liaison Committee, said steps being taken by the steelmaker to address the problem is “exactly what I’ve been waiting for years” but he worries the issue will resurface again without public pressure.

He said the dark clouds of emissions by the steelmaker over the Thanksgiving weekend were not a one-off event and stressed they’ve been sounding the alarm bells about the issue for years.

“I realize that was an exceptional weekend but so was the Easter long weekend and who knows how many days in between,” Bezner told the meeting. “These are recurring incidents.”

The incidents Bezner referred to are called “coffining” — a process used by steelmakers to cool excess hot iron in outdoor pits that can send giant dark clouds into the sky, especially when the pits are damp from rain.

Most recently, the issue came to light over the Thanksgiving weekend when Environment Hamilton executive director Lynda Lukasik photographed a dark cloud near the steelmaker while bicycling in the area. This turned out to be only one of three reportable air pollution incidents by ArcelorMittal Dofasco that weekend

Roger Tang-Poy, general manager of primary manufacturing, explained to the committee a “catastrophic failure” on the largest crane on site combined with wet weather conditions were the reasons behind those extreme emissions last month.

Because of the crane failure, hot iron had to be diverted from steelmaking and put through a coffining process.

“It was a bit of a perfect storm for us,” he said.

Since then, the company has said it is making changes to technical processes to try to lessen particulate pollution from coffining operations in the future.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco told the environment ministry in a letter it has “established a team of experts with a mandate to fast track trials, deploy additional technologies and make process reconfigurations to eliminate eruptions and emissions.”

As for the Thanksgiving emissions, Lukasik told the committee she was dissatisfied by the company’s statement that the black clouds of particulate emissions did not travel offsite.

She said the company basing its belief that the emissions dissipated before reaching nearby neighbourhoods only on photos from its own cameras is “not good enough.”

“To me, it’s a very misleading statement,” she said.