Northwest Indiana has carried the environmental burden of creating steel for decades, Gary Councilwoman Lori Latham, D-1st, said.
Now, she believes it’s time for a change in the city.
“We deserve the same modernization investments that are happening elsewhere,” Latham said. “Green steelmaking and cleaner technologies are possible, and they’re worth discussing. … The future of steel must include us. It must include our voices.”
Latham is co-chair of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development’s green steel committee. GARD, Just Transition Northwest Indiana, Indiana Conservation Voters, Industrious Labs and Mighty Earth hosted a town hall meeting Thursday night, titled “Our Mill, Our Future.”
About 110 people attended Thursday’s town hall meeting, where they heard from members of GARD and JTNWI about what green steel is and how it can benefit the region. GARD members Terry Steagall, Jack Weinberg, Beryl Fitzpatrick, Allan Halline and Kwabena Rosuli participated in a panel that answered community questions. GARD member Valerie Denney helped moderate and answer questions.
Latham conducted a presentation, which explained the need for the Gary Works steel mill, saying it’s necessary for jobs and Gary’s economy. However, Latham believes it’s necessary for the community to advocate for technology that will decrease pollution that activists believe contributes to higher risks of cancer and diseases.
Ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other health effects, including asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm birth and impaired cognitive function, according to the American Lung Association. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer, according to the organization.
The American Lung Association found that, in 2020, Indiana had a lung cancer rate of 72.5 per 100,000 people, with Lake County as one of the state’s counties with the highest cancer mortality rates. A 2016 report from the JAMA Network also found Gary as one of the five U.S. cities with the lowest life expectancy at one point.
The groups advocate for direct reduction technology at Gary Works. 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. Blast furnaces cannot consume direct reduced iron, and a previous U.S. Steel statement said the company would need to build a new electric arc furnace-based steel shop “from the ground up.”
However, in a previous GARD report, the group found that U.S. Steel could install electric smelting furnaces at Gary Works, which could melt direct reduced iron and remove its impurities. The molten iron could then be fed into the facility’s existing basic oxygen furnaces to create steel, according to GARD.
“That is currently not being done anywhere in the United States or at the scale needed for a plant like Gary Works to continue to serve customers,” a U.S. Steel spokesperson said in a Friday email.
U.S. Steel responded to the town hall in a statement.
“The organizers of this meeting demonstrate little insight into the economic and technological realities of the steel industry, as well as zero concern for the job losses their recommendations would cause,” the company’s statement said. “Our commitment to invest $11 billion across our U.S. footprint by the end of 2028 will improve efficiency and make the steel we produce cleaner and higher quality. This historic investment is focused on modernizing and improving Gary Works as it operates today, ensuring generational job security rather than tearing it down.”
Switching to an electric-arc furnace based facility would require shutting down the existing facility for years, according to an email from U.S. Steel, which would affect more than 4,000 direct employees and thousands of others who are supported by Indiana operations.
The company spokesperson also said in an email that during that time, production capacity would be “significantly reduced,” which would impact U.S. Steel’s ability to meet customer demands.
“Gary Works currently produces more than three million tons of specialized automotive steel annually, and these products are not currently achievable at the same scale using (electric arc furnace) technology,” the email said. “Therefore, we would have fewer sales and fewer dollars available to invest and maintain our workforce. Indiana operations contribute approximately $1.8 billion in annual economic impact and generate about $67.4 million in state and local tax revenue. Further, (electric arc furnace) based steel facilities typically operate with significantly fewer workers.”
Lisa Vallee, JTNWI organizing director, said the groups want to fight for cleaner air and land — but not at the expense of workers and surrounding communities. Local activists believe that blast furnace technology is becoming obsolete and could lead to future job loss.
If action for cleaner technology is taken, Vallee believes Gary’s economy and community can thrive, and pollution in the city and region will decrease.
“This is not crazy,” Vallee said. “This is the future we are fighting for, and it is more possible now than ever.”
Vallee, and other speakers Thursday night, acknowledged U.S. Steel’s plans to invest $1.9 billion into a new direct reduced iron facility at Big River Steel Works in Osceola, Arkansas. According to previous U.S. Steel information, the investment will leverage a 2022 investment into direct reduced-grade pellet capabilities at its Minnesota Ore Operations Keetac plant, which creates a direct link between the company’s mining operations, electric arc furnace feedstock creation and steel production at Big River Steel Works.
“What about us?” Vallee said. “Have we not borne the burden of a century of coal-based steel production? Did we not build an entire country off the backs of men and women, putting their lives on the line in the name of progress? We paid the price for a nation’s progress, and we will not let them turn their backs on us now.”
Lisa Nash, a 68-year-old Gary resident, said Thursday that she’s worried the mill might close as green steel investments occur elsewhere.
“If the mill closes, how do we turn that around and make it productive for us?” Nash said. “What do you do with what they leave behind?”
Jack Weinberg, GARD’s green steel policy advisor, told Nash that he believes if newer technologies are brought to the mill, they could keep jobs and economic benefits.
Weinberg said community activists want a meeting with U.S. Steel leaders to discuss the future of Gary Works and what the remainder of Nippon Steel’s investment in Gary will be put towards.
“Let’s talk about it,” Weinberg said. “We want to make the case that the money spent in Gary is a good investment, and it’s not a bad investment.”
U.S. Steel responded to Weinberg’s request in an email to the Post-Tribune.
“We would be open to meeting with organizers of these groups in an appropriate, private setting,” a U.S. Steel email said.
