After growing desire from residents and environmental activists, the Gary Common Council unanimously passed a resolution urging U.S. Steel to bring green steelmaking technologies to the city.
Councilwoman Mary Brown, D-3rd, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. Councilwoman Lori Latham, D-1st, attended the meeting virtually.
“To bring about the environmentally safe, competitive, and productive operation of Gary Works, in Gary, Indiana, the Gary Common Council calls upon Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel to use the remaining investment funds committed for Gary Works, to install Gary’s first direct reduction furnace and additional facilities that will be needed,” said Councilman Darren Washington, D-at large, who sponsored the resolution.
The council says, in the resolution, that members will work with U.S. Steel to ensure that green measures can be implemented and protect jobs, strengthen economic competitiveness, improve public health and support long-term investment in the city, and it encourages modernization to preserve existing union jobs, provide opportunities for workforce training and support local hiring.
After its approval, the council plans to send the resolution to Gary Mayor Eddie Melton, the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission, Gov. Mike Braun, Indiana’s U.S. Congress members, and to council members of communities nearby and in Pennsylvania impacted by steelmaking.
According to the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, direct reduction creates sponge iron, which “is produced in a reactor by direct reduction of iron ore in solid form, utilizing natural gas as the reducing agent to produce pellets or briquettes.”
Direct reduction by itself cannot create steel, according to a previous statement from U.S Steel, and direct reduced iron is a feedstock used in electric arc furnaces that produce steel. U.S. steel is investing $1.9 billion into a direct reduced iron facility in Osceola, Arkansas.
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U.S. Steel has previously said the company would need to build an electric arc furnace-based steel shop “from the ground up.” However, activism group Gary Advocates for Responsible Development found that U.S. steel could install electric smelting furnaces at Gary Works, which could then melt direct reduced iron and remove its impurities. The molten iron could then be fed into the facility’s basic oxygen furnaces to create steel, according to the group.
The steel company has previously said that is not being done anywhere nationally or at the scale needed for Gary Works.
Multiple Northwest Indiana residents and activists spoke on the resolution during Tuesday’s public comment. GARD member Carolyn McCrady told the council that she’s proud of their decision to introduce the resolution.
“By sponsoring this green steel resolution, they are speaking truth to power,” McCrady said. “The truth is that the people of this city and beyond deserve justice for the generations who came before them and sacrificed to build what is now the flagship operation of U.S. Steel.”
McCrady said a green transition is essential for Gary’s future in both environmental and public health.
Terry Steagall, another GARD member and retired steelworker, also thanked the council for their resolution, saying that he hopes it shows Nippon and U.S. Steel that the community is ready for solutions.
GARD President Dorreen Carey also said Tuesday that she and the rest of the group support the resolution. A transition to green steel would help protect public health, air and water in Gary and Northwest Indiana, Carey said.
“(Green steel will) make our community a cleaner place to live, provide jobs for our residents, make our city more economically sustainable, and will need Gary Works competitive, internationally and nationally, into the future,” she added.
U.S. Steel reacted to the resolution in a Wednesday statement, saying its improvements at Gary Works, including the hot strip mill and steel shop improvements, help make its steel cleaner, more efficient and higher quality.
“The billions being invested will help update equipment, allowing for new products to be created and enabling us to use less coke in the steelmaking process, reduce emissions, reduce natural gas consumption, and reduce water use,” the statement said. “These upgrades directly support the community while protecting more than 4,300 good-paying jobs.”
U.S. Steel’s statement also echoed points from previous comments, including that a transition to direct reduction would shutter the plant. An electric arc furnace-based facility would run with fewer employees, meaning fewer jobs for the Gary community.
The company statement also said the solution the council endorses “is considerably more complex than replacing one piece of equipment with another.”
“We appreciate and respect the commitment and concern that Gary Common Council members show for our community,” the U.S. Steel statement said. “… Gary Works plays an essential role in Northwest Indiana and American manufacturing. We remain committed to investing in the facility, supporting good-paying jobs, improving environmental performance, and working constructively with local leaders and residents on a strong future for Gary.”