Nippon to revamp polluting blast furnace in Gary as part of U.S. Steel merger

Nippon Steel Corporation has no plans to make steelmaking greener in Gary as part of its merger with U.S. Steel.

In a press conference with the city of Gary on Thursday, Nippon’s Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori said Nippon plans to spend $300 million to revamp one of the blast furnaces at Gary Works.

Blast furnaces that use coking coal generate the largest share of emissions in the steelmaking process.

Instead, local and national activists would like to see Gary Works install furnaces that can use something called “direct reduced iron” and operate on hydrogen produced with renewable energy.

U.S. Steel Gary Works releases the most toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions of any Indiana industrial facility.
 

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Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.