Standing in front of a crowd at the Gary Aquatorium’s top floor, Just Transition Northwest Indiana Lisa Vallee told Northwest Indiana residents that a better, greener future is possible.
“We can have it all,” she said. “Our region isn’t just industry and pollution. We’re also home to the Indiana Dunes National Park and the shores of Lake Michigan.”
On Thursday, JTNWI unveiled its new study, “Measuring Legacy Pollution’s Burden on Northwest Indiana.” The local environmental justice organization worked on the presentation with Nicholas Muller, the Lester and Judith Lave professor of economics, engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
“I felt like you were all the experts,” Muller said. “I’m seeking to just translate those experiences into a different language, a language policy makers tend to use.”
The study examines 20 industrial facilities’ effects on air quality and public health in Northwest Indiana. The report found that “monetary damages are substantial,” at more than $3 billion annually.
“We now have groundbreaking data, not just on the emissions, from each of those facilities,” Vallee said. “But we have the cost of air pollution broken down into dollars that we could take to our representatives, to (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) hearings, to the press, and say that business as usual is harming us at such high rates that’s barely economically beneficial to keep up.”
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The report attributed the largest amount of damage — about 123.7 deaths and $1.7 billion in damages annually — to Cleveland-Cliffs’ Burns Harbor steel facility, making up 53% of the total.
Its Indiana Harbor facility was third, contributing to 15% of damages, according to the report, with 35.5 deaths and $496 million in damages annually.
U.S. Steel’s Gary Works facility was second in the report, making up 17% of total damages, at 40.5 deaths and $565 million in damages annually.
Muller explained how he conducted the study on Thursday, saying he used the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2020 National Emissions Inventory to look at ammonia, nitrogen oxides, primary PM2.5, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds regionally.
Muller looked at pollutant concentrations that come from each facility and overlaid it with demographic information from the U.S. Census, which allows impacts to be evaluated for different groups.
He used that data to estimate the increase in premortality rates associated with PM2.5 exposure, looking at how different communities’ baseline health statuses can lead to different health impacts.
Muller converted health impacts into monetary damages to see pollution’s economic impact, according to the study. He used the Value of a Statistical Life, which was used by the EPA and various other studies, and was about $13 million “after adjusting for income growth and inflation.”
Muller compared monetary damage to Lake and Porter County’s gross domestic product. According to the report, pollution damages amounted to about 40% of Lake County’s GDP and more than 100% of Porter County’s GDP, which Muller said questions the viability of current steel production methods.
“I’m not by any means arguing that economic activity here should stop,” Muller said. “What I’m arguing, and I think what’s generally being argued, is we should change how the products are made while still making the products with an eye towards reducing what appears to be really exorbitant local and regional social costs.”
Cleveland-Cliffs responded to the study’s findings in a statement, saying there’s a “coordinated effort to destroy and dismantle” the U.S. steel industry, adding that groups like JTNWI promote agendas “that would accelerate the decline of domestic U.S. steelmaking while pretending there won’t be devastating consequences” for their communities.
“The winners won’t be American workers. The winners will be foreign competitors in countries like China and India that are eager to capture the manufacturing capacity the United States gives away. Every ton of steel we stop making here is a ton that will likely be produced somewhere else, often under weaker labor standards and less stringent environmental regulations,” the statement said. “The people in Northwest Indiana need to wake up. Steel isn’t just another industry, it is the economic backbone of this region, the entire state of Indiana, and it powers the American economy.”
In its statement, Cleveland-Cliffs said the company supports about 25,000 jobs throughout the U.S. and Canada, and it’s a “proud union employer.” The company also contributed “hundreds of millions of dollars” in state and local taxes, according to its statement, and invests in workforce development and community programs.
“Let’s not forget what is at stake,” the statement read. “If the steel mills disappear, the good-paying union jobs disappear and the tax base that funds our schools, public safety, and local services shrinks. Small businesses close. Families leave. Entire communities pay the price.”
U.S. Steel responded to the study as well, saying that Gary Works operates under federal and state environmental permits. The company also said JTNWI’s claims that U.S. Steel is building newer, greener technology in Arkansas and leaving Gary behind is “false and irresponsible.”
“U.S. Steel is investing billions of dollars to improve Gary Works operations by making the steel we already produce cleaner, more efficient and higher quality,” the statement said. “These upgrades will modernize equipment, support new products and reduce the need for coke in the steelmaking process. They also support community health while protecting thousands of good-paying jobs. This is the pathway to real environmental benefits and generational job security in the communities where we live and work.”
U.S. Steel’s statement also said that converting Gary Works to an electric arc furnace facility and using direct reduction to create iron would close the plant for years and include job loss for more than 4,300 employees.
JTNWI and other green steel advocates have championed direct reduction as technology that will reduce emissions in Gary.
BP also responded to the study’s findings in a statement. The Whiting refinery was found to contribute to 4% of the total premature mortality and monetary damages, according to the report, finding that it led to 8.3 deaths per year and $115 million in damages annually.
“Whiting refinery is focused on maintaining safe and reliable operations in compliance with all state and local regulations to reduce environmental impacts,” the statement said.
NIPSCO also responded to the study’s findings as its R.M. Schahfer and Michigan City generating stations were included. Schahfer has contributed to 4% of the total damage, according to the report, with 9 deaths and $126 million annually. The Michigan City location makes up 2%, with 4.8 deaths and $66 million annually.
“NIPSCO is committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable energy to the customers and communities we serve while operating in compliance with environmental and regulatory requirements,” the utility’s statement said. “We remain focused on protecting human health and the environment, strengthening the communities we serve and pursuing energy solutions for the future.”
NIPSCO also complies with coal ash management and emissions requirements at its generating stations, according to the statement, as well as federal orders requiring the Schahfer generating station to stay open.
At the end of JTNWI’s Thursday presentation, Executive Director Ashley Williams encouraged attendees to use the findings to advocate for themselves and their communities.
“Unfortunately, we know that this could get worse if action is not taken,” Williams said. “We should not have to choose between good jobs and a healthy environment. … We do not have to reinvent the wheel — there’s solutions out there.”
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