It doesn’t matter how often Stephanie De Francesco tries to wash away black grime from her car, house and deck near Hamilton’s industrial sector.
She says everything outside her Beach Road home will inevitably be coated the next day and her four-year-old son will return from the park with soot-stained clothes, shoes and hands.
“This is an affordable area for families to live in but we feel we can’t stay as long as we would like because it’s not safe for us,” De Francesco said.
De Francesco, 30, said the soot in the area appears to have gotten worse in the three years she has lived there, though she doesn’t know what it is composed of, nor can she be sure of which industries are responsible for it.
She does live a few blocks away from Canada’s largest steel producer ArcelorMittal Dofasco, however. In the process of manufacturing flat rolled steel products, the site’s coke ovens release soot as well as chemicals into the air including carcinogens benzene and benzo(a)pyrene.
De Francesco said despite the questions over the origins of the soot, for her it’s a daily reminder of the air pollution she and her family are exposed to.
“I’m definitely concerned about underlying health issues,” she said.
Exemptions expired last year
Residents, local politicians and environmental advocates all say the province should be holding Dofasco and other big polluters accountable by enforcing stricter air quality standards.
For years, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has permitted Dofasco to emit benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, manganese and suspended particulate matter well above provincial standards. For example, Dofasco could release 22 times more benzene.
Dofasco’s exemptions ended over a year ago, but it continues to emit the contaminants at higher levels than what’s allowed, according to its annual report for 2023.
Similar exemptions for other steel mills in Hamilton — Stelco and Harsco Canada — have also expired. Those companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Dofasco’s environment general manager Gas Gebara said in a statement the company is committed to “maintaining compliance” with environmental regulations.
The Ministry of the Environment has allowed their site specific standards to expire because it’s finalizing a proposal for a new “technical standard” that will apply to all steel plants, said spokesperson Gary Wheeler.
This technical standard will be a departure from the traditional process that assessed each plant individually.
WATCH: Environment Hamilton director explains possible benefits of technical standard
It will, in theory, require industry to have “best available emissions control technology and practices” and take into account standards in other provinces and countries, said a ministry presentation to Hamilton’s board of health last year.
Until that happens, the same environmental and operation controls still apply and steel mills have submitted proposals for managing emissions, known as abatement plans, Wheeler said. He did not provide a timeline.
“The abatement plans in combination with the environmental compliance approvals will ensure accountability until a longer-term compliance pathway is determined,” he said.
Councillor pushes back
Local officials say that’s not enough.
“It ends up being a bit of a wild west,” said Coun. Tammy Hwang, who represents residents near the steel mills.
“At this point there’s no way to keep industry accountable.”
Rick DeLaplante, 76, has lived near Dofasco for 55 years. He said soot and air pollution has always been an issue in the neighbourhood, as has the province’s desire to enforce the rules.
This spring the black grime was particularly bad, becoming sticky and clinging to his dog’s white fur on walks, DeLaplante said. He reported it to the ministry, which collected a sample, but hasn’t heard back and doubts anything will change — even if there’s a new technical standard.
“They [industry] have a free hand to do what they want,” DeLaplante said. “It’s not fair to us.”
Mayor Andrea Horwath said in a statement to Radio-Canada that she continues to be concerned about the impacts of the emissions on residents and is waiting for an update about Dofasco’s decarbonization plans.
In 2022, Dofasco announced it was undertaking a $1.8-billion decarbonization project, aiming to transition from coal to natural gas by 2028 and reduce emissions by 60 per cent.
Dofasco said it is working with the ministry on the new technical standard and plans for decarbonization are “progressing” with no changes to its timeline.
In theory the technical standard is a good change, said Environment Hamilton’s Ian Borsuk. While he’s hopeful it will be more stringent than past standards, he’s also skeptical.
“The ministry is certainly taking its time on this and unfortunately over the years we’ve seen public health and impacts on the environment take a back seat when it comes to ensuring these facilities can continue to operate at full capacity,” Borsuk said.
“But the idea of this being the price of business isn’t really seen as the common type of view anymore.”