Hamilton residents request Ontario investigate ArcelorMittal Dofasco for releasing emissions far above limits

With ArcelorMittal Dofasco stalling on its green steel plans and releasing emissions above Ontario’s air-quality regulations, Hamilton resident Jochen Bezner says Canada’s largest steelmaker needs to be held accountable. 

Bezner and another, unnamed resident have formally requested that the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Parks (MECP) investigate Dofasco, alleging it’s “emitting dangerous pollutants” at levels far above Ontario’s regulatory standards. 

“We don’t want to shut them down,” Bezner told CBC Hamilton. “We just want them to be responsible.” 

Bezner is a longtime citizen member of Dofasco’s community liaison committee. The investigation request was filed by Ecojustice — an environmental law charity — and a Hamilton lawyer. 

The city is already home to a high concentration of heavy industries and air pollutants known to cause cancer — in particular, benzene and benzo[a]pyrene, said Bezner. That makes the stakes higher.

“We don’t need to add more than necessary,” he said.

In a news release earlier this week, Ecojustice said Dofasco’s plant is surrounded by neighbourhoods where about 82,000 people live. They experience among the highest levels of cancer-causing contaminants — benzene and benzo[a]pyrene — in Ontario, it added. 

Dofasco used to operate under exemptions — known as site-specific standards — that allowed it to emit more of these contaminants than the province typically allows for other types of industries. But MECP still required the company to reduce its emissions each year by upgrading equipment and technology, according to Bezner’s request. 

In June 2023, Dofasco’s exemptions expired, and it didn’t apply for new ones. That process would have required an open house and public commenting period, said Bezner. 

MECP also didn’t intervene, it told CBC last year, because it was working on a new “technical standard” that would apply to the entire steel industry. It has yet to be finalized.

That means Dofasco is now operating in a “grey zone” that could be considered “non-compliance,” Bezner said.

Until a new exemption or industry standard is developed, it should be adhering to the province's general air regulations, he said. 

“Ontario has the power to use existing air-quality standards to ensure that Dofasco plays by the same rules as everyone else and ratchets up its efforts to reduce emissions,” said Ecojustice lawyer Ian Miron in the news release.

“It’s time for the province to take the kid gloves off and hold Dofasco accountable for putting communities at risk.”