With Hyundai's planned steel mill moving toward approval, Ascension Parish residents want Louisiana regulators to slow the air-permit process, saying nearby communities could bear the health risks if the review is rushed.
Hyundai plans to break ground Thursday, three days after a public hearing on its draft air permit.
Here's what to know
At the RiverPlex MegaPark in Donaldsonville, Hyundai will build a $5.8 billion steel operation covering about 1,700 acres, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. The mill is expected to produce 2.7 million metric tons of steel for Hyundai and Kia auto plants in the United States as well as for other automakers.
Neighbors near the site and advocacy groups the Environmental Integrity Project, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and Rural Roots Louisiana argue that the project timeline is moving faster than any meaningful public review.
Regulators at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality listened to public comments on the draft air permit Tuesday at the Lemann Center Gymnasium; the agency has not approved a permit.
The draft permit would allow annual emissions totaling 196 tons of particulate matter, plus 1,760 pounds of lead and 824 tons of nitrogen oxide. Medical research has linked those pollutants to asthma, lung damage, and elevated cancer risk.
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"We don't want economic development to come at the expense of the community," Twilla Collins, a resident of Modeste, an unincorporated village next to the site, told the Illuminator.
More background
To critics, setting a groundbreaking date before the air permit is finalized makes the state's review look less like a safeguard and more like a box-checking exercise.
Anne Rolfes, who directs the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said the process does not reflect the level of scrutiny required under federal law.
"The Clean Air Act requires a rigorous review of permits before they can be issued, but the groundbreaking is happening before the permit has even been issued," Rolfes told the Illuminator. "It has a feeling as if this air permit is assured, that it is not the rigorous review as required by federal law, but is instead a rubber stamp."
The groups have also criticized public officials' use of nondisclosure agreements, arguing that such secrecy makes it hard for residents to understand how decisions that affect their health and property are made.
What's being done?
Hyundai has said it is addressing those concerns.
In a statement, the company said it was "actively working" with local, state, and federal leaders to ensure it will "strictly adhere to all regulations on emissions, and where possible we go above and beyond to reduce or remove emissions," WBRZ News 2 reported, per the Illuminator.
The company said June revisions to the draft permit lowered carbon pollution in response to community feedback and that the mill plans to "generate 70% less carbon emissions than conventional methods" of steel production. That could make the project less climate-polluting than traditional steelmaking, even as local air-quality concerns remain unresolved.
Where can I learn more?
Similar fights in Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and beyond have turned on how air permits, pollution limits, and civil rights protections define what nearby residents live with.
• In Louisiana, a federal court limited civil rights protections in pollution-permitting fights affecting vulnerable communities.
• In Indiana, advocates sued the Environmental Protection Agency over an air permit they said leaves neighbors unprotected.
• In Channelview, Texas, residents challenged a refinery expansion plan they said threatens community safety.
Those disputes help explain why Ascension Parish residents are pressing hard on Hyundai's permit before construction starts. Once large industrial projects get moving, communities often spend years seeking protections they say should have been in place from the start.
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