Maritime trade poses environmental risks along Detroit River

Growing up in one of the state’s most polluted ZIP codes, Southwest Detroit resident Theresa Landrum has fought for decades to protect her neighbors from heavy industry. 

But another area of potential environmental concern — the maritime trade industry — isn’t as well known and it poses risks, too, experts and advocates like Landrum say.

“When you talk about marine traffic on our waterways leading to climate change, I’m sure most people wouldn’t even understand what you’re talking about,” said Landrum, noting the discussions are mainly confined to “the circles of the environmental justice groups” and not localized to the community.  

The impact of maritime trade is multifaceted, from affecting the air quality of the surrounding Detroit River corridor to the arrival of invasive species. A series of initiatives are in motion to assess carbon emissions from port operations and bolster efforts to protect the waterway. 

The Port of Detroit/Wayne County Authority last month unveiled findings from a year-long study aimed at measuring its carbon footprint and drafting recommendations to reduce it.

Port Authority Executive Director Mark Schrupp said the study was created in partnership with scientists from Tunley Environmental and Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision with the aid of a state grant. The researchers sought to measure carbon emissions from all activities in the port, including tugboats, passenger, cruise ships and other vessels, as well as cargo handling, fuel burning and more. 

The port receives about 10 million tons of cargo, road-building materials for making steel, iron ore, coal and liquid chemicals and fuel for industrial processes annually from February through December. With terminals spanning 28 miles along the Detroit River, it’s also an inseparable fixture of the local community, according to the project plan’s executive summary. 

As officials work to improve the port’s carbon footprint, Schrupp said, they are carefully considering the surrounding neighborhoods. The process, he said, will ensure community members are included and take part in the implementation.

“There’ll be a continuous effort to improve the health of the neighborhood around there, because (the terminal is) in a part of Detroit that’s inundated with the trucking industry,” he said. “You can see in the health results, you know – off-the-charts asthma rates, [levels of] sulfur, sulfur dioxide. It’s not the safest place to live or work or be. And so we’re trying to push things in the right direction.”

The plan’s executive summary details the total tons of carbon emissions produced by the port (27,869 tons of CO2 per year), with 55% coming from the movement of cargo via truck or train within Wayne County from port activity; 33% from ships interacting with the terminals; and 15% from cargo-handling equipment. Of the 24 terminals measured, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority terminal contributed about 4% of the port’s total emissions.

Cleveland Cliffs, which works in steelmaking, contributed about 23%, and DTE Zug Island, in coke production and also steelmaking, contributed about 18%. Both Cleveland Cliffs and Zug Island were listed as two of three terminals that did not supply data, causing their emissions to be estimated through publicly available data. 

A representative for Cleveland Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment. DTE Energy noted in a statement to BridgeDetroit that “there is publicly available information to estimate emissions, which was used to complete this survey.”

In terms of what DTE is doing to reduce its carbon footprint, the statement noted that “EES Coke – which is part of DTE Vantage, the non-utility affiliate of DTE – is working with the partners to see if any refinement is needed.” 

For the port’s part, Schrupp said officials are applying for grants to pay for electric equipment to replace the diesel power it uses to move that cargo to the ground. There has been a national push toward hydrogen use to fuel tractors, trucks, and possibly even ships, he continued, but it’s difficult and isn’t cost-effective. 

“It’s probably going to take about ten years to really develop the hydrogen supply lines and productions, making hydrogen green,” he said. “The cost of creating green hydrogen is still four or five times what it would cost to produce the same amount of energy, diesel. So, it’s sort of an impediment to shifting over.” 

Schrupp said Michigan’s high weight limit for trucks – about 164,000 pounds, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation – is another challenging factor when considering how to implement more sustainable practices related to cargo shipping. 

“That’s one of the reasons Michigan has the worst roads in the country – we’ve allowed trucks to carry more weight,” said Schrupp, noting modifications to those limits are highly political.

In addition to environmentally-conscious improvements to cargo practices, Schrupp said the port’s plan examines additional air quality improvements. Bulk materials at the ports create dust, he said, which is bad for breathing, so officials are working to get terminal operators to adopt better cargo handling processes to contain the dust and prevent it from circulating in the air.

However, Schrupp said, the regulatory environment has been a challenge to navigate.

“For years and years (Detroit) was the automobile capital,” he said. “Industry kind of has a lot of sway at the legislative level. So, putting in place anything that really takes environmental protection – of course, it adds costs to business, but it could have saved a lot of lives over the years had we done better.”

Schrupp said there has been some movement to improve legislation, but most existing enforcement of burdensome dust is “pretty weak.” Detroit’s City Council is considering a fugitive dust ordinance, but it has yet to be adopted. 

“You know, don’t wait for a fine or a citation from the city,” Schrupp said, “let’s just do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.”

The story was published in collaboration with the Detroit River Story Lab‘s Pitch Partnership program, which offers adaptable journalism training modules to interdisciplinary University of Michigan students and supports select students in publishing stories in Detroit-based non-profit news outlets.