Hyundai Failed to Consider Cleaner Alternatives in Air Permit for Proposed Louisiana Steel Plant in Violation of the Law & Company Promises

Baton Rouge, LA - Today, Sierra Club submitted a detailed analysis to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality highlighting the flaws and errors in Hyundai Steel's air permit application for its proposed steel plant in Ascension Parish. The expert comments, with detailed exhibits , demonstrate how the company failed to consider cleaner alternative technologies in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, the Louisiana Public Trust Doctrine, and the company's own environmental commitments.

According to the expert comments, by electrifying components Hyundai could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 39.5%-over 764,000 tons annually- and smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 33.38% and volatile organic compounds by 25.2%, while potentially saving $2.7 million per month in operating costs.

The comments also lay out why Hyundai's claim that green hydrogen is infeasible is factually incorrect. The company's recent claims about green hydrogen are contradictory to promises made by Hyundai in prior statements. Green hydrogen would also significantly reduce the facility's total annual greenhouse gases and combustion emissions

Sierra Club has submitted two previous rounds of comments to LDEQ after identifying errors, inconsistencies, omissions, and misrepresentations in Hyundai's air permit application. Sierra Club and partners are calling on LDEQ to mandate Hyundai evaluate using electric instead of fossil-fired components and green hydrogen instead of fracked gas as feasible alternatives to mitigate or eliminate emissions, particularly given the existing environmental burden on the surrounding community. Ascension Parish is in the heart of Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that has extremely high rates of cancer caused by industrial pollution. In their own air permit application, Hyundai Steel recognizes that the surrounding communities of Modeste and Donaldsonville already bear a toxic pollution burden in the 96th percentile, far above the national average.

In reaction, Sierra Club released the following statements:

Andrea Issod, Sierra Club Senior Attorney, said: "Hyundai has a major opportunity to take advantage of proven technologies that significantly minimize harmful pollution, and lower operating costs to boot, at its greenfield plant. However, its air permit application neglects to consider readily-available electric technologies or the green hydrogen the company proposed when announcing the project. We urge LDEQ to follow the law and require Hyundai to evaluate these cleaner technologies to protect local communities and plant workers from harmful pollution, and lead the way on the very necessary green steel transition in this country. If they do not, Hyundai Steel will be just another source of pollution in a region already known as Cancer Alley."

Kelvin Wells, Sierra Club Delta Chapter Organizer, said: "Based on its air permit application, it's clear that Hyundai was only giving lip service to the community when it first pitched an innovative, green steel facility. There is still time to make it right. Hyundai must pause to ensure they are respecting the region's heritage and culture, while minimizing air-pollution and other impacts on local families. Ascension Parish is already overrun with industrial parks and plants that sacrifice people for profits, Cancer Alley doesn't need more destruction.

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