Groups Sue Over Steel Plant's Air Emissions Permit

DEARBORN (AP) — Several environmental groups are challenging the state's decision to update an air emissions permit for a Detroit-area steel plant.

The Sierra Club and the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court.

They object to a decision in May by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to revise the permit for a Dearborn plant owned by Severstal, a Russian company that is selling the plant to AK Steel of West Chester, Ohio.

The groups say the permit will allow the plant to continue polluting at levels that had been cited more than 30 times in state enforcement actions.

Department spokesman Brad Wurfel says the permit was changed to more accurately reflect the plant's emissions, which he says are below state and federal standards.

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