Stelco hosts quarterly Community Liaison Committee (CLC) meetings that are open to anyone in the community to attend. The next CLC meeting will be October 28 from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Residents can sign up to attend by emailing [email protected]. You can see meeting minutes from past CLC meetings by clicking the link here.

Here are our notes from the meeting on July 29:

1. Water discharge permit amendment

Stelco submitted an application to amend their environmental compliance approval (for sewage) in April 2025. The application was approved and so they have begun work on a stormwater management operation that will service the relocation of their facility gate and truck scale area. 

• The original Environmental Compliance Approval can be found at the LINK HERE.
  • It was also shared to the Environmental Registry of Ontario (LINK HERE).
• The amended Environmental Compliance Approval can be found at the LINK HERE.
• In general, Environmental Compliance Approval and other permits can be found at the access environment government website.

2. Questions from last meeting

Last meeting, residents asked about why coke oven gas is being flared constantly instead of using it to produce electricity. Stelco said that they've looked into but say it is too difficult to do this at their facility.

3. Coke Battery Performance

Stelco presented their quarterly results for their coke ovens which includes metrics related to door leaks, lid leaks, offtake leaks. They were in compliance for these metrics. Coke ovens are where coal is processed into a more pure form called coke. Coke is required to produce the high temperatures necessary in blast furnaces where steel is made.

Stelco said that they are not the source of the soot incident residents reported during the first couple weeks of July (update, we now know Birla Carbon was the primary source). 

4. Coke Battery Performance - stack opacity

Stelco addressed concerns about the irregular dark colour of their coke battery emissions that was observed by many residents over the last month (read more at the article LINKED HERE)

• They received 21 complaints from community members
• They admitted that they are not meeting stack opacity targets. This means that the pollution emitted from Stelco's coke plant smoke stack is out of compliance with the air quality standards they are supposed to meet, and those standards are already beyond Ontario's general air quality standards.
• They explained why the stack opacity is worse than usual:
  • Coke batteries are lined with refractory bricks that can withstand extreme temperatures.
    • Stelco's coke battery has 83 individual ovens. Sometimes they can shut a few ovens down to repair them while continuing to operate the others but this time all ovens are affected.
  • Sometimes the coke can stick to the walls. When the coke is pushed out of the oven the walls and some of the material is sticking, the oven walls can get damaged.
  • Temperature shocks can also degrade the seals between the refractory bricks in the walls.
  • The extreme cold in the winter contributed to more sticking than usual.
  • The extreme heat in the summer means that it is not possible for workers to do a more comprehensive repair until temperatures get cooler.
  • In the meantime, workers are performing 24/7 ceramic welding maintenance for short term repairs of any oven cracks.
  • Shutting down the facility would degrade of the oven lining due to temperature shock, which would result in worse emissions when the facility is restarted.

5. Questions and comments from community members for Stelco

• Concerns that Stelco did not update CLC members prior to the CLC meeting even though the stack opacity issue was ongoing for months.
• Comments about how the current situation shows the gaps in coke battery performance reporting, as all of the leak metrics were in compliance but the facility is not.
• In the last CLC meeting it was mentioned by Stelco staff that poor quality of coal was driving the emissions issues.
  • Staff responded that there has never been an issue with the coal and that it has always been an oven stickiness and degradation issue. This situation started in December 2025.
• A question was asked about coke plant decommissioning timelines.
  • Stelco sold the land to Slate Asset Management in 2022. Since then Slate has spread rumours that the coke plant will close by 2030, but Stelco has never confirmed this. 
  • They said no decisions have been made to close the plant at this point and are currently operating with the intention of continuing to operate into the forseeable future.
• Residents expressed support for decommissioning coke plants and switching to electric steelmaking, with this latest incident being an example of how this switch would be beneficial.
• Residents asked if Stelco applies for its own permits or if this is now done through Slate since they own the land. Stelco replied that they are still the company that applies for permits.
• Community members expressed support for a hybrid meeting format. Stelco CLC meetings are still fully online. Dofasco has started hosting hybrid meetings.

6. Questions and comments from community members for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP)

• What mechanisms exist to ensure the company is held accountable and that this issue is addressed as soon as possible?
  • MECP staff replied that there are a variety of enforcement tools available (if you like reading technical documents, you can see the links to O. Reg. 419/05 and Ontario's Environmental Protection Act).
  • Provincial officers and directors can do things like issue specific orders, request a detailed action plan, or require the company to bring in a contractor to restore compliance levels.
  • Referrals for noncompliance are taken to the investigation branch and then the Investigations and Enforcement Branch of the MECP.
    
    

The presentation from the CLC is posted at the link here and meeting minutes will be posted at a later date. The next Stelco CLC meeting is October 28 from 5:30-7:00pm. Residents call email [email protected] to register. Residents can also email [email protected] at any time with concerns or questions about Stelco's operations.