New baghouse cuts Essar Steel Algoma pollution

NEWS RELEASE

DAVID ORAZIETTI, MPP

************************* Orazietti welcomes new baghouse at Essar Steel to reduce pollution in Sault Ste. Marie Local MPP works with Ministry of the Environment and Essar to ensure that steel mill continues to meet Ontario’s tough new air pollution regulations

SAULT STE. MARIE - After working closely with Ministry of Environment officials and representatives from Essar Steel for well over a year to improve air quality for Sault residents, David Orazietti, MPP participated in a public opening today to celebrate the installation of a new baghouse that will help reduce air emissions at the mill.

“The Ontario Minister of Environment, his staff, local MOE officials, representatives from Essar Steel and I have been working constructively for well over a year to ensure that Essar is in compliance with our government’s tough new air pollution regulations,” said Orazietti. “I congratulate Essar on their significant investment to install a new baghouse to improve the environment for Sault residents while the company continues to provide important jobs for steel workers and their families during these difficult economic times.”

On February 10 of this year a new, permanent baghouse on Essar Steel’s #7 blast furnace was put into operation with a $25 million investment by the company.

The initiative is expected to remove about 120 tonnes of particulate from the blast furnace operations annually.

Essar was originally committed to install a baghouse by December 31, 2010, but were required to accelerate the initiative by the terms of the MOE’s Certificate of Approval for plant expansion.

The Certificate of Approval follows the requirements of the McGuinty government’s tough new air pollution regulations which included the requirement that a baghouse be installed and also required the steelmaker to take further action to protect Sault Ste. Marie’s environment including:

- Paving on over 8 km of company roads to reduce dust

- Upgrades to the baghouse at the company’s lime plant

- Providing air quality data to the public via the company’s website

- A Community Liaison Committee, to ensure that the public has access to information regarding Essar’s environmental efforts

- A plan for a feasibility test using portable baghouses to reduce the entrainment of fine carbon dust at the dekish station.

“We recognize that clean, safe air is essential in protecting the health of Ontario’s people and communities which is why our government has sets new air standards, in some cases for the first time, for many harmful pollutants,” said John Gerretsen, Ontario’s Environment Minister. “My Ministry will continue to work with the community and industry to further improve air quality in Sault Ste. Marie.”

In 2005 the Ontario government implemented Ontario Regulation 419 introducing 40 new and strengthened air pollution regulations.

The measure will significantly reduce industrial emissions making Ontario’s air pollution standards the toughest in Canada.

In total, the McGuinty government has introduced 59 new or updated air standards in less than two years to protect Ontario communities from the impacts of air pollution - the biggest move on air toxics in over 30 years.

“Everyone recognizes that industrial regulations should have been more stringent in past decades, which is why we have implemented tougher measures and introduced new programs that reflect our current understanding about the importance of protecting the environment,” said Orazietti. “A new baghouse at Essar Steel was initiated ahead of schedule because MOE scientists determined that the mill needed improved technology to meet our government’s aggressive air emissions regulations.”

After years of neglect, the McGuinty Government has transformed Ontario into a national leader in implementing positive environmental initiatives including:

- Increased operating budget of MOE by 12.5 percent

- $400 million since 2003 to support source-to-tap drinking water initiatives

- Cancelled proposed Adam’s Mine landfill site protecting Northern drinking water

- Passed historic Greenbelt Act protecting 1.8 million acres from sprawl in GTA

- Introduced Standard Offer Program allowing Ontarians to sell renewable power to the provincial grid

- Closed Lakeview Generating Station in 2005 - equivalent to taking half million cars off the road - CO2 emissions from Ontario’s coal-fired power plants are now below 1990 levels

- $13 million to renew our commitment to rehabilitate and protect the Great Lakes

- Passed Endangered Species Act: toughest legislation in North America.

Some of the McGuinty government’s environmental initiatives and programs that have specifically benefited Sault Ste. Marie include:

- Power purchase agreement to facilitate $400 million investment by Brookfield Power: largest wind farm in Ontario

- Power purchase agreement to facilitate $360 million investment by POD Solar group in 60 MW project: largest solar farm in Canada

- Power purchase agreement to facilitate $135 million capital investment by Essar Steel in 70 MW co-gen plant: eliminating 400 tons of Nitrous Oxide

- $5 million in provincial gas tax funding has reduced air emissions through increased public transportation ridership

- $1.4 million for Sault Ste. Marie and Region Conservation Authority for water protection

- $557,000 project to help clean-up St. Marys River - $25,000 for Shopper Loyalty Program to reduce plastic bag consumption

- Certificate of Approval for Elementa’s energy from waste project.

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