ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s ‘green steel’ transformation to start in January

ArcelorMittal Dofasco will begin a $1.8-billion green steel" transformation next year by knocking down a defunct coke plant once ranked among the city's worst coal-fired polluters.

The bayfront steelmaker pledged last year to replace aging, coal-fired coke ovens and blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces by 2028 - with $900 million in public funding from Ontario and the federal government.

Those changes would slash cancer-causing air pollution and black fallout in Hamilton, and cut greenhouse gas emissions from Dofasco by nearly two-thirds. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Hamilton on Thursday for a groundbreaking on a project he called an example to the world of what clean innovation will look like."

Real work will begin in January with demolition of the defunct No. 1 coke plant, said Tammy Oommen, a Dofasco project program manager. That collection of 105 coke ovens was shuttered in 2015, to the relief of environmental advocates who called the battery one of the worst culprits for black pollution.

The demolition - which will not feature any spectacular explosions - is needed to make room for direct reduced iron" technology that will extract iron from ore. The 150-metre-tall DRI facility should be under construction in 2024, with coal-free steelmaking meant to begin by 2028.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com