EPA, DTE Energy spar over Zug Island pollution
A judge fined DTE $100 million for Clean Air Act violations. The utility appealed. Planet Detroit’s Dustin Blitchok explains the dispute.
A self-unloading barge dumps a shipment of coal at Zug Island
A dispute over air pollution in southwest Detroit and two neighboring cities is playing out in federal court.
The Environmental Protection Agency is suing DTE Energy over excess sulfur dioxide emissions from one of the company’s subsidiaries.
EES Coke Battery produces metallurgical coke, a key component in steel production. To make coke, the plant heats coal inside an oven. The gases from that process contain sulfur dioxide.
The EPA alleges that EES Coke violated the Clean Air Act and added DTE and two other subsidiaries to its lawsuit.
DTE argues that it is not directly responsible for the alleged violations.
In Feb. 2026, U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain ordered DTE to pay $100 million in fines. The company appealed the decision.
Planet Detroit has been covering the case since it started. Managing Editor Dustin Blitchok and environmental journalist Isabelle Tavares published their latest story in October.
Blitchok spoke with WDET Morning Edition Detroit host Pat Batcheller about the case. Blitchok says it’s a problem people can smell and see.
“When you’re driving down I-75 or Jefferson Ave. and you see that flame shooting up from Zug Island, that is the flare stack that is burning off excess sulfur dioxide,” he says.
The area has a long history of air pollution
Blitchok says the emissions affect people who live near Zug Island, especially residents of River Rouge, Ecorse and southwest Detroit. This includes folks in the 48217 ZIP code, historically one of the nation’s most polluted communities.
Teresa Landrum has lived in 48217 for a long time. She testified at the civil trial that she limits her time outdoors because she can feel burning in her eyes and lungs.
Blitchok says this summer’s wildfire smoke didn’t help.
“It comes together to make breathing difficult,” he says. “It makes conditions you already have difficult.”
DTE has argued that the fine and the cost of installing pollution control systems would effectively shut down EES Coke Battery.
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in December.
