Full Title: Dearborn Works: An Integrated Steel Mill Transition Study
Author(s): Elizabeth Boatman
Publisher(s): 5 Lakes Energy
Publication Date: October 26, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Michigan is a recognized leader in the transition toward economy-wide carbon neutrality. But to achieve the objectives put forth in the state’s MI Healthy Climate Plan, Michigan’s emissions intensive industrial sector needs its own leader, and that proposed leader — Cleveland-Cliffs, owner of the Dearborn Works integrated steel mill — needs its own viable transition plan. Disrupting decades of technological stasis and a precipitous decline in quality steelmaking jobs, breakthrough technology in clean steel produced using ‘green’ hydrogen is finally here. With Cleveland-Cliffs expected to commit the next round of major investments in Dearborn Works by 2027, to ‘reline’ the mill’s coal-burning blast furnace — potentially locking Michigan into pollution-heavy, carbon intensive steel production for decades to come — the state has just one opportunity to intervene.
Is clean steel produced using green hydrogen right for Michigan, and the fence-line residents of Dearborn Works? This report provides a thorough presentation of a potential transition plan — including costs, job creation, timeline, environmental and health impacts, and suggestions for co-funding and policy interventions — to educate key decision-makers on the steps needed to advance Michigan toward its healthy climate objectives while securing the state’s foothold in the emerging clean steel economy.