Judge denies DTE bid to pause Clean Air Act order over Zug Island facility

On Thursday, a U.S. District Court Judge denied a Detroit manufacturing facility’s request to pause enforcement of a February court order requiring them to abide by the conditions of the Clean Air Act.

Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ordered DTE Energy and three of its subsidiaries to pay a $100 million civil penalty, determining it had violated the Clean Air Act by failing to meet Clean Air Act standards at EES Coke Battery, located on Zug Island between Detroit and River Rouge. 

DTE and EES Coke must also apply for new Clean Air Act permits, and pay an additional $20 million to fund a “Community Quality Action Committee” which would support local air quality improvement projects.

DTE is the operator for EES Coke, which produces metallurgical coke, a carbon-rich solid fuel used to make steel.

DTE and EES Coke appealed the decision to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in March, and filed a request to stay requirements of the district court’s February order, including the provisions requiring them to establish the community quality action committee and obtain new permitting.

On Thursday, District Court Judge Gershwin Drain rejected that request, noting that allowing the stay to move forward would go against the commands of the Clean Air Act.

“Given the significant harm the Facility’s excess emissions have caused, and continue to cause, to the surrounding communities and the public at large, the public interest strongly favors denying the stay,” Drain wrote in his opinion.

Attorneys for the Sierra Club, which intervened in the case, cheered Drain’s decision. 

“It’s very encouraging to see the Court stick to the relief that community members fought for and that they urgently need to breathe clean air,” Mary Rock, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement. “DTE and EES Coke’s decision to pollute the community with illegal sulfur dioxide for more than a decade is unlawful, as the court correctly ruled in this case. During the trial, Detroit and River Rouge residents testified that they have trouble breathing and doing normal, everyday things like gardening and biking in their neighborhood. They deserve immediate justice from DTE and EES Coke.”

A DTE spokesperson said they were unable to comment, citing its pending litigation within the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.