Activists, Dofasco square off after Ontario provides funds to firm

Local environmental activists say ArcelorMittal Dofasco should not be given millions of dollars in provincial government assistance when the company has ongoing air emissions problems at its Hamilton plant.

“If any taxpayers money is going to the company, it should be to deal with their environmental challenges, in my humble opinion,” says Environment Hamilton executive director Lynda Lukasik.

On Wednesday, Cristina Martins, parliamentary assistant to the minister of economic development and growth, announced the provincial government was giving the steelmaker $22.7 million — $15.2 million as a grant and $7.5 million as a loan.

The money will go toward a $151-million upgrade of the company’s hot mill operation to become more competitive and produce higher quality steels.

“We know the company doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to air emissions,” said Jochen Bezner, a Crown Point neighbourhood resident and member of the Coalition Against Pollution Hamilton.

“It doesn’t set the right tone — for me living in the community right next door — to have outstanding (environmental) issues and at the same time being rewarded by the government.”

In response to the criticism, a ArcelorMittal Dofasco spokesperson said the company has made hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvements in recent years that, among other things, have helped improve its environmental performance.

The improvements, the company said, include benzene discharges that have declined by 55 per cent from 2010 to 2016; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) falling by 80 per cent from 2010 to 2016 and total particulate matter emissions down by 48 per cent since 1990.

At a community meeting last week, ArcelorMittal Dofasco officials outlined a strategy to eliminate black cloud particulate emissions in a process called coffining. Coffining involves cooling excess hot iron in pits that can send giant dark clouds into the sky, especially when the pits are damp from rain.

The company said it plans to bring that process indoors, which would contain emissions. However, community group members are still concerned about coke oven emissions. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has issued three orders to ArcelorMittal Dofasco aimed at reducing coke oven emissions significantly over time. The company has agreed to make $90 million in upgrades in response.

A ministry spokesperson said one of the orders requires the company to “permanently shut down three coke oven batteries and implement an extensive rebuilding program for the remaining operating batteries. This work will result in the repair and replacement of components within the batteries which affect emissions.” The other orders relate to benzene and suspended particulate.

Brigitte Marleau, a Ministry of Economic Development and Growth spokesperson, said environmental performance is considered before economic development grants and loans are issued. They must “be in compliance or demonstrate they are dealing with any noncompliance issue.”

In 2016, ArcelorMittal Dofasco also received $40 million in grants and incentives from the Ministry of Energy for energy upgrades that the company said would save enough electricity annually to power 19,000 homes.

Lukasik said she wouldn’t be as critical about the assistance to save energy because of the positive environmental effect.