Gary and Northwest Indiana residents face a critical month for the region’s environmental safeguards, as multiple federal and state agencies weigh new rules that could shape local air quality and public health. Upcoming public hearings are scheduled to gather resident feedback, covering topics ranging from equipment at the Gary Works steel mill to particulate matter pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
For residents of Gary, home to the nation’s largest integrated steel mill and already burdened by decades of industrial pollution, these hearings represent critical opportunities to push for stronger safeguards. Public comment periods are virtual and/or in-person opportunities for residents and local leaders to speak with agency representatives, and play a key role in shaping how federal and state agencies enforce air quality standards that directly affect community health and environmental sustainability. Many of the deadlines for these public comment periods close later this month. Here’s what they are, and how Gary residents are impacted:
EPA hosts hearing on steel and coke oven pollution emission enforcement delays
The Environmental Protection Agency will host two upcoming public hearings on its national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for coke ovens and integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities. Gary Works uses iron ore in its steel mill. The iron and steel hearing will be Sept. 3, while the coke ovens meeting will be Sept. 4.
Earlier this year, the EPA issued an interim final rule postponing hazardous air pollution standards. Enforcement of the safeguards, originally scheduled to go into effect in 2025, would be delayed until April 2027 under the new rules.
The EPA estimates the delay would allow a significant increase of toxic emissions, including benzene, arsenic, and chromium, from steel facilities across the Midwest. Northwest Indiana residents and environmental advocates are expected to testify at the EPA’s upcoming virtual hearings to protest the postponing of the emissions enforcement.
Both hearings will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. Central Time.
Residents can register for either virtual hearing by emailing SPPDpublichearing@epa.gov or watch online.
Deadline: Additionally, public comments will be accepted online at https://www.regulations.gov/ until the Oct. 3 deadline.
IDEM to hold public meeting on Gary Works air permit modification
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management will hold a public meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 3 at 21st Century Academy in Gary on a proposed modification to U.S. Steel’s Title V air permit. The change would affect particulate matter emissions, which refers to small particles in the air, from the mill’s pig iron caster.
Gary Advocates for Responsible Development condemned the move, saying the modifications would loosen emission safeguards.
“Why does U.S. Steel need a modification of its permit? We need tighter regulation, not loopholes and exemptions. We encourage IDEM to think more carefully about the health of the people in Gary and reject these modifications. U.S. Steel can do better,” said Dorreen Carey, GARD’s president.
In a statement, the group said the proposal weakens safeguards by several measures, including requiring testing requirements only once every five years instead of annually, failing to monitor pollution control devices, and setting inconsistent emissions limits.
The proposal comes on the heels of another Gary Works air permit renewed earlier this year. GARD and the Environmental Law and Policy Center filed a petition opposing the permit, saying it lacks key safeguards required under the Clean Air Act, including clear rules for monitoring, emissions testing and recordkeeping.
Deadline: Residents are encouraged to submit written comments by emailing to Aasim Noveer from IDEM’s Office of Air Quality at anoveer@idem.gov by Sept. 8.
EPA extends greenhouse gas and vehicle emissions standard comment period
The Environmental Protection Agency is also proposing to repeal greenhouse gas vehicle and engine emission standards and rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding, the scientific and legal foundation affirming that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health.
Revoking the Endangerment Finding could strip EPA of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases, undermining decades of climate protections and Clean Air Act safeguards. For industrial communities like Gary, where U.S. Steel’s mill emitted more hazardous air pollutants than any other steelmaker in Indiana in 2022, such a rollback would have severe consequences, environmental advocates have warned.
Deadline: The EPA recently extended its comment deadline to Sept. 22. Public comments will be accepted online at https://www.regulations.gov/.