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U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain on Tuesday ordered DTE Energy Co. and its subsidiaries to pay a $100 million civil penalty for Clean Air Act violations at the EES Coke facility on Zug Island in River Rouge, southwest of Detroit, the Detroit News reports.
The judge also ordered DTE to:
► Bring EES Coke into compliance with federal air quality laws.
► Form a Community Quality Action Committee and provide it with $20 million in funding for local air quality improvement projects.
The EES Coke battery is a coal-powered plant that produces coke, a material used in steelmaking that emits sulfur dioxide pollution, which can harm the respiratory system and potentially cause cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and premature death.
“Our families and neighbors can never get back the years lost to breathing dirty air,” said Theresa Landrum, a southwest Detroit activist and Sierra Club member who lives about 3 miles from EES Coke, in a press release, according to Carol Thompson of The News. “This ruling gives me faith that big corporations can be held accountable for breaking the law, and it gives me hope for the future.”
DTE said it was disappointed in the ruling and plans to appeal, The News reports.
