President Trump’s approval of a $14.1 billion Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal has sparked renewed calls in Gary, Indiana, for investment in cleaner steelmaking and accountability for decades of pollution.
Tara Molina reports for CBS News.
In short:
- President Trump signed an executive order allowing Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel to proceed with a national security agreement requiring $11 billion in investment and a “Golden Share” for the U.S. government.
- Gary Mayor Eddie Melton says the city expects $1 billion in local investment, but details are lacking, and residents want assurance that the funding addresses the longstanding environmental toll of the Gary Works steel mill.
- Advocates from Industrious Labs and Gary Advocates for Responsible Development warn that pollution from the plant contributes to high asthma rates and affects mostly low-income communities of color, demanding a written plan for cleanup and a shift away from coal-based steelmaking.
Key quote:
"Gary Works, alone, is responsible for over 30,000 cases of asthma symptoms every year."
— Hilary Lewis, steel director at the environmental nonprofit Industrious Labs
Why this matters:
Gary, Indiana’s residents have lived in the shadow of one of the country’s most polluting steel mills for generations, with serious public health consequences. The Gary Works plant ranks as the nation’s worst steel or iron facility for air emissions, according to the EPA. The surrounding neighborhoods, where nearly all residents are people of color and most live below the poverty line, suffer disproportionately from asthma and other respiratory illnesses linked to airborne pollutants. Steelmaking’s reliance on coal only worsens the region’s environmental burden. As foreign investment reshapes the steel industry, residents are demanding that companies and regulators reckon with these longstanding harms — not just through economic promises, but through enforceable environmental reforms.
Related:
- Political debate over U.S. Steel sale ignores public health and environmental risks
- Nippon Steel shareholders demand environmental accountability in light of pending U.S. Steel acquisition
- As Biden prepares to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, pollution concerns persist in Pennsylvania
- Amidst a controversial international sale, U.S. Steel falls behind in cleaner steelmaking
