ArcelorMittal Dofasco hosts quarterly Community Liaison Committee (CLC) meetings that are open to anyone in the community to attend. The next CLC meeting will be October 20 from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Residents can sign up and see meeting minutes from past CLC meetings by clicking the link here.

Here are our notes from the meeting on July 20:

1. Action items from previous meeting to be addressed

1.1. In January, Dofasco applied for a new environmental compliance approval through the Environmental Registry of Ontario. If the application is approved, Dofasco will get a renewed Limited Operational Flexibility condition, which would allow them to conduct construction, alterations, extensions, enlargements, or replacements of certain facilities and equipment without further public oversight or approval.

• ERO applications are open for public comment, and so many community members and organizations wrote comments asking for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) to reject the renewal since Dofasco is currently out of compliance with Ontario's general air quality standards and has not started the coal phase out project that it announced in 2021 (full timeline here).
• Last month, the City of Hamilton Board of Health passed a motion to formally oppose the renewal and request for enhanced air monitoring on Dofasco's fence line.
• The MECP is still reviewing Dofasco's application.
• Last CLC meeting, folks asked for historical examples of activities that would fall under Dofasco's limited operational flexibility condition.
  • Dofasco representatives cited examples such as upgrades to cooling towers.
  • They also mentioned the recent shut down of coke plant 3, but since their Limited Operational Flexibility expired in December 2023 and the shut down happened this year, we don't think the shut down actually falls under the scope of limited operational flexibility.
  • A key concern is that with renewed limited operational flexibility, Dofasco could conduct refurbishments of outdated fossil fuel equipment and facilities to further delay decarbonization and a phase-out of coal. It would be allowed to do these refurbishments without public comment and review.

1.2. Last meeting (and the meeting before that), folks asked if a representative from the MECP policy and approvals department could attend the next CLC meeting to answer questions related to a technical standard for the iron and steel industry. This person would also be able to answer questions related to Dofasco's Environmental Compliance Approval renewal application.

• It is standard for an MECP representative from the Hamilton office to attend CLC meetings, but the Hamilton office only deals with ensuring compliance of existing regulations.
• The Hamilton office is not in charge of reviewing Environmental Registry of Ontario applications or writing policy.
• The MECP did not send someone from their policy and approvals branch to this meeting.
• The Hamilton office representative stated that we can email or call Minister Todd McCarthy's office ([email protected], 416-314-6790) or use the general MECP office contact: https://www.ontario.ca/feedback/contact-us?id=26985&nid=72714 (416-325-4000). We are also exploring other alternatives.
  
  
• Aside: The MECP has stated for at least seven years now that it is working on an iron and steel industry technical standard.
  • It's not a guarantee that a technical standard would be an improvement from site specific standards.
  • More info on the difference between technical and site specific standards at the link here.

2. Corporate Update

A Dofasco employee talked through some of the history and stats related to ArcelorMittal Dofasco, such as:

• it opened in 1912 as Dominion Steel Casting Company.
• 4,500 people currently work there
• 130 grades of flat steel are manufactured at its facilities for ~200 customers
• Its customers are in many industries, but right now this includes
  • Auto (primary destination for Dofasco steel)
  • Buildings and infrastructure
  • Tubular energy (pipelines)
  • Packaging (tin cans)
  • Farming (grain silos)
• If procures $3-4 billion dollars of goods annually from ~3,000 suppliers
• In 2025, Dofasco recycled 1.3 million tons of scrap steel
• In 2025, 45% of the steel shipped to Dofasco's customers was produced in its Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) 
  • Aside: for those who are not familiar, Dofasco has operated one EAF since 1996
    • Dofasco used to operate three coke plants and three blast furnaces
    • Currently, Dofasco operates one coke plant and two blast furnaces. Coke Plant 1 shut down in 2015 and was supposed to be demolished in 2023 to make room for Dofasco's decarbonization plans. Coke Plant 3 shut down on April 13 this year and has now been fully decommissioned. Dofasco stopped using one of its blast furnaces in 2021 but it is not known if there are plans to start using it again or not.
  • Aside: We asked if the share of steel produced at Dofasco using the EAF has been increasing, decreasing, or relatively stable.
    • They stated that it's been around 45% for at least the last five years at least.
    • This means that emissions from Dofasco's blast furnaces (where processed coal (coke) and iron ore are melted down to produce steel) are enough to make Dofasco the largest industrial source of carbon dioxide emissions in Ontario even though the blast furnaces only account for 55% of the steel produced at the plant.

3. Coke plant update

• A staff member from the coke plant team presented the quarterly update on opacity of the smoke emitting from the coke plant smoke stacks. The last remaining coke plant at Dofasco has two smoke stacks.
• Opacity, as it relates to the steel industry, is a measure of the darkness of the cloud of smoke emitted from a smoke stack, or in other words, how easily light can pass through the smoke.
• For 2026, Dofasco's opacity limit is 30% (i.e. 70% of light can pass through).
  • The average from Coke Plant 2 for Quarter 2, 2026 was 21.1% and the range of measurements varied between 14.2% and 34.2%.
  • This means some of the measurements were out of compliance, but on average the coke plant facility is meeting the standard.
  • While opacity is not a direct indicator of emissions from the coke plants it is a key indicator that is used.
• The staff member also went through the averages and ranges of measurements with respect to:
  •  lid leaks (the number of coke plant lids that are found to be leaking during any given inspection)
  • door leaks (the number of coke plant doors that are found to be leaking during any given inspection)
  • offtake leaks (the number of pipes leading from the coke plant to byproducts plant that are found to be leaking during any given inspection).
• The averages and ranges of measurements for lid, door, and offtake leaks were all in compliance.
• The staff member gave an update on Coke Plant 3 and stated it has now been fully disconnected from the rest of Dofasco's operations and so is in the "cold idle" phase.

4. Community Inquiries

• Community members reported two incidents in Quarter 2, 2026 of irregular visible emissions on May 2 and one incident related to a machine tracking out dirt onto Kenilworth Ave on April 30.
• Dofasco determined that the May 2 report was due to blockage in a fuel line to one of its boilers and fixed the blockage. 
• A few other incidents were reported, but after investigating Dofasco determined that they were not the source of the report.
• Next meeting, Dofasco staff stated they will give a more detailed description of reports filed by community members and present how Dofasco determines whether it was Dofasco or a different industrial facility.

5. Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) update

• The MECP representative stated that an incident reported on July 9 regarding dust blown off Dofasco's stockpiles was confirmed.
• Dofasco stated that extreme heat contributed to the event.
  • Water that is periodically sprayed on the stockpiles evaporated quickly which made it more likely for dust to be blown off of the piles.
  • This occurred even though Dofasco sprayed more water than usual in anticipation.
• The MECP cannot comment on if the stockpile dust incident contributed to the soot reported by residents in early July as they have sent soot samples to the lab for analysis and are still investigating.
  • The MECP did clarify that most soot complaints were filed between July 5 and 8 while the Dofasco event occurred on July 9.
  • The MECP stated that once they get the results back from laboratory analysis they will be working with Hamilton Public Health to communicate the findings.
  • Aside: After community members filed soot-related reports in 2024 the MECP reported limited statistical findings but did not share a full report of their analysis. We need them to share their detailed report this time.
• We asked if Dofasco could build containers for its stockpiles to reduce the use of water and prevent dust.
  • They stated that this is not an industry standard and wouldn't be possible due to large machines constantly delivering and accessing stockpile materials.
• We asked how the Hamilton Office is monitoring Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) compliance since Dofasco's abatement plan states it will meet the SO2 standard by phasing out coal and they have not started coal phase-out project construction yet. 
  • The MECP did not have an answer to this aside from stating Coke Plant 3 has now shut down which will reduce SO2 emissions.

6. Roundtable for Questions (note that if you have questions they can be sent to [email protected])

6.1. Updates on decarbonization?

• No updates.

6.2. Can Dofasco staff speak more about the fugitive dust emissions from stockpiles and why they cannot build silos to trap the dust?

• They reiterated that they have a lot of heavy equipment that is constantly moving around on site as well as cranes and conveyor belts accessing to the stockpiles that would make the construction of silos challenging, and that this is not done anywhere in the world.
• We haven't had time to fact check this claim yet. If you get a chance and find something interesting let us know: [email protected]

6.3. How is it determined whether or not an incident is attributed to Dofasco?

• Based on the report date and time, Dofasco can check plant data for irregularities and upsets. If they find something irregular at the time a community member filed a report then that is one way to know they are responsible.
• They also take into account:
  • reported odour.
  • wind data.
  • air quality data.
• They check to see if clusters of people have filed reports.

6.4. Are there specific stats related to Dofasco's benzene and benzo[a]pyrene emissions?

• Dofasco and MECP representatives stated that facilities report emissions to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) which is run by the Government of Canada.
  
  
• Here is some more info related to Dofasco's emissions and Ontario air quality regulations: 
  • NPRI link here >> see: Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds
  • Let us know if you need assistance if you are having difficulty finding and/or interpreting a particular report.
• ArcelorMittal Dofasco's 2023 abatement plan was accessed via freedom of information request.
  • You can view it at the link here
  • From the table on page 13 you can see that Dofasco's predicted maximum concentrations are modelled to be:
    • 987 times larger than the MECP allowable annual average benzo[a]pyrene.
    • 66 times the allowable half hour average for benzo[a]pyrene.
    • 14 times larger than the MECP allowable annual average for benzene.
    • 2.7 times larger than the MECP allowable 24 hour average for manganese.
    • 3.4 times larger than the MECP allowable annual average for SO2.
  • Ontario's maximum allowable concentrations can be found in schedule 2 and 3 of O. Reg 419/05, the key Ontario regulatory document for air pollution.
  • These concentrations are based on the most sensitive effect identified through a review carried out at the time of development. For more see:
    • Ontario’s Ambient Air Quality Criteria
    • Benchmark 1 (B1) values

6.5. Site specific standards at ArcelorMittal Dofasco expired in 2023. Why wasn't any work done prior to expiry to ensure compliance?

• MECP stated that it moved all site specific standards into Dofasco's Environmental Compliance Approval post 2023.
  • It is unclear what mechanism allows for this to happen and it makes it seem like the MECP is monitoring compliance with an abatement plan.
  • Abatement plans do not get posted for public comment or review but environmental organizations have accessed Dofasco's abatement plan dated August 2023 via a freedom of information request.
  • Abatement plans are supposed to be requested by the MECP to show how a facility will bring itself into compliance. Dofasco is not bringing itself into compliance with Ontario's general air quality standards.

That's all of our updates for now. We will continue to post updates at www.environmenthamilton.org/steel

-Environment Hamilton team