Ontario to spend up to $500M to help steel industry switch to clean power

Ontario taxpayers will be on the hook for up to $500 million to wean the steel industry off coal and onto electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Thestar.com
Feb. 16, 2022
Robert Benzie

Ontario taxpayers will be on the hook for up to $500 million to wean the steel industry off coal and onto electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a campaign-style announcement in Hamilton -- 15 weeks before the June 2 election -- Premier Doug Ford promised that much in grants and loans to replace coal-fed coke ovens and blast furnaces.

“By investing in innovative technologies, we’re strengthening our economy and protecting good local jobs for Ontario workers,” the premier said Tuesday.

Ford said the changes would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about three million tonnes annually, which is the equivalent of taking almost one million gasoline-powered cars off the road.

The public money will go toward a $1.8 billion project by ArcelorMittal Dofasco to switch to a new kind of furnace that would tap into the electricity grid instead of using coal.

Negotiations are ongoing for a similar provincial investment in Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ford noted.

Last summer, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $420 million federal infusion for Algoma to transition to cleaner steel production.

Dofasco’s existing steel-making operation is a massive polluter and is responsible for huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

“Coal will not be used in our future processes at Dofasco,” said the company’s president and CEO Ron Bedard.

“This investment puts us on a path to low-carbon, sustainable steel and is possible only through partnership with government.”

Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said the cash infusion is necessary as the province steps up production of electric vehicles.

Fedeli noted cleaner cars and trucks should be manufactured using “innovative green steel” instead of with products powered by coal.

“This exciting investment ... will give automakers and other industries yet another reason to buy Ontario and hire Ontario workers when they look to transform their supply chain,” the minister said.

But Green Leader Mike Schreiner said the Progressive Conservative government’s pledge is “undermined” by its actions on new highway construction projects.

“Highway 413 alone will unleash 17.4 million tonnes of climate pollution by 2050 -- that’s more than the entire city of Toronto emitted in 2018,” said Schreiner, referring to the proposed 60 kilometre highway linking Milton to Vaughan, which would raze 2,000 acres of farmland, pave over 400 acres of Greenbelt land and cut through 85 waterways.

“While I’m glad the government is finally listening, Doug Ford’s stubborn refusal to make (electric vehicles) more affordable will limit widespread adoption and make life less affordable for people,” he said.

“Driving electric should be an option accessible to all Ontarians.”