Environmental group reaches agreement over project in Granite City
By Kim McGuire
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, May. 03 2008

The two companies planning a $570 million project to construct and operate a coke plant and a cogeneration facility in Granite City have reached an agreement with local environmental groups that will curtail the emission of fine particle air pollution. A cogeneration facility uses waste heat to produce power.

United States Steel Corp. and Gateway Energy and Coke Co., a unit of Philadelphia-based Sun­oco Inc., will use the latest pollution control technology at a $280 million cogeneration facility and $290 million coke plant, and agree to fund $5 million in local projects geared toward cleaning up the air.

In exchange, the American Bottom Conservancy and the Sierra Club have agreed not to challenge any of the air pollution permits issued to the companies by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Had the groups appealed those permits, it could have slowed down the project, expected to funnel 88 new jobs to Granite City.

Maxine Lipeles, director of Washington University's Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic, said the agreement is significant because it places meaningful permit limits on fine particulates, a form of air pollution that can lodge deep inside a person's lungs and even wind up in the bloodstream.

Under the terms of the settlement, Gateway, which will build, own and operate the coke plant, will install filter bags in the baghouse for the plant's main stack. It also will maintain a continuous emissions monitoring system there. Also, U.S. Steel has agreed to come up with a plan to reduce flaring at its nearby steel mill Granite City Works, which will use the coke to make steel.

The new coke battery — a set of 120 large ovens — will produce 650,000 tons of coke annually under a 15-year supply contract with U.S. Steel. The only byproduct in the coke-production process is hot flue gas, which will be used by the cogeneration facility to power the steel mill. The cogeneration facility will be built, owned and operated by U.S. Steel.

Construction is expected to begin Monday with a ground-breaking and will take 18 months to complete.

In addition to creating new jobs, the existing 2,195 jobs at the Granite City Works will gain stability, as U.S. Steel looks to reduce its need to compete for coke with foreign steelmakers.

Congratulations to American bottom Conservancy and the Sierra Club on a significant victory, and we’ll all be the better for it.