Steel Mills

SDI Jumps Through "Whoops" to Get Wastewater Permit for New Mill

Written by Sandy Williams


Steel Dynamics Inc. has overcome an environmental hurdle at its Sinton, Texas, steel mill with a new agreement concerning wastewater discharge from the facility.

WhoopingCraneEnvironmentalists, led by the Aransas Project, opposed the wastewater permit for the facility, fearing that discharge water from the mill would contain too much metal and endanger the winter habitat of the last flock of migrating whooping cranes.

SDI has agreed to create a wetland marsh to filter treated wastewater from the new plant before it reaches Chiltipin Creek and Copano Bay and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Marshes naturally filter water, removing up to 50 percent of metals, according to scientific literature.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is expected to approve the permit allowing the completion of the $1.9 million project. The Sinton EAF-based flat roll mill is slated to open in mid-2021 and will have an estimated 3.0 million tons of annual steel production capacity.

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