For Immediate Release:

November 15, 2024

Frontline Communities and Advocates Demand Clean Steelmaking at Met Coke World Summit

Calls for Accountability and Action to Address Health and Climate Impacts of America’s 17 Coal-Based Steel and Coke Plants

PITTSBURGH, PA – Yesterday, frontline community members from Indiana and Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley joined environmental advocates to expose the devastating health and environmental impacts of coke production and coal-based steelmaking. Speaking outside the Met Coke World Summit—a gathering of industry leaders—frontline residents shared powerful stories of illness, economic hardship, and resilience, underscoring the urgent need for transformative action to clean up the steel industry. Following the press conference, attendees marched to the U.S. Steel Tower, demanding a transition to cleaner, safer, and more sustainable technologies in steelmaking.

America’s 17 coal-based steel and coke plants contribute to up to 892 premature deaths and over 250,000 asthma attacks annually, with $6.9 to $13.2 billion in health-related costs, according to estimates from a recent report by Industrious Labs. These facilities also cost the economy $137 million each year in lost workdays and reduced productivity due to pollution.

“The steel industry’s impacts aren’t just a statistic in Northwest Indiana; they are personal. It’s children missing school because of their asthma, families overwhelmed by hospital bills, and neighbors we’ve lost far too soon to cancer,” said Dorreen Carey, President of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD). “Our community deserves clean air and a future in which Gary Works and the region’s other steel mills replace their polluting facilities with cleaner, greener steelmaking technology.”

The stories shared at the event are echoed across industrial communities in the Midwest and Great Lakes region, where steel and coke plants have created ‘sacrifice zones’ that bear the brunt of pollution and its devastating consequences. For example, in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley, cumulative pollution from multiple industrial sources compounds these harms. Research shows that residents of Allegheny County experience significantly higher mortality rates from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution than the national average, with exposure linked to an estimated 640-1,373 deaths annually, despite recent air quality improvements.

“We’re at the Met Coke Conference to deliver a message: our community’s health must come before industry profits. For too long, the coke and steel industry has prioritized their bottom line over our well-being, causing untold suffering,” said Patrick Campbell, Executive Director of Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP). “The Mon Valley, once a proud symbol of American industry, now stands as a warning of what happens when profit comes before people. We demand a future where the health of our communities and planet is non-negotiable, and a steel industry that leads in innovation and cuts emissions.”

While transitioning away from coal-based steelmaking is the only long-term solution to address the steel industry’s health and climate impacts, immediate action is needed to mitigate the ongoing harms. Advocates at the press conference called for the steel industry to immediately reduce pollution and protect public health while committing to a transition to sustainable technologies. They stressed that no community should continue to bear the burden of toxic air pollution caused by outdated industrial practices.

“We have the largest and oldest coke manufacturing industry in our city, and it’s one of our biggest polluters. Childhood asthma rates here are three times the national average, and families face daily harms like irritated eyes, continuous coughing, and the rotten egg stench that keeps us from opening windows on hot summer days,” said NaTisha Washington, Communications Manager for the Breathe Project. “Together, across steel states, we are standing up to say we are stronger than the steel industry and deserve a cleaner, healthier, and more innovative future.”

Building on this call for action, Rachelle Morgan Ceaser, a public servant in Gary, Indiana, and a 2024 Sustainable Steel Community Cohort graduate, emphasized the need for industry accountability and renewal. “Steel has always symbolized strength and resilience, but it’s time for the industry to embrace those values in how it treats the communities that built it,” she said. “Imagine an industry not only known for the steel it produces but for the communities it restores. That is the legacy we must forge—a future where steel uplifts lives and protects the health and well-being of the people it depends on.”

A recorded live stream of the event is available here and photos are available here.

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About Industrious Labs:

Industrious Labs is focused on scaling campaigns and building a movement to clean up heavy industry through network and capacity building, research and analysis, data-driven campaigns, and sharp communications.