Environmental activists want Metro Detroit steel company to go greener
DEARBORN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - An environmental group called Industrious Labs, along with Dearborn community members, held a news conference Thursday calling on a local steel company to use greener methods to produce steel products.
"Where ever steel is made with coal-burning blast furnaces, there is substantial health impacts that are brought to the local communities," said Maricela Gutierrez, senior strategist at Industrious Labs.
Gutierrez said Cleveland Cliffs Steel on Miller Road in Dearborn already uses hydrogen at its Ohio facility.
"They were one of the grantees that got $500 million to transition one of their facilities in Middletown, Ohio," she said.
Gutierrez said the steel company uses cleaner energy at that facility, and it should also do the same in Dearborn.
"They have to invest over here because the company is already going to have to make this investment for all their blast furnaces are up, so why not invest in newer technology?"
Gutierrez is referring to Cleveland Cliffs Steel having to invest in new blast furnaces soon, being that it is at the end of its use cycle.
CBS News Detroit reached out to Cleveland Cliffs Steel for their response, but we did not hear back.
Gutierrez is hopeful the company makes the right choice but does not believe it will do it without being incentivized or pressured to do it.
"They have not indicated they will transition any other facility besides the one they got money for, so yeah, there is room to believe they are not going to move unless pushed," Gutierrez said.