Blast Furnace 6 Reline

I object due to carbon emissions that this project will cause from burning coal for the next 20 years, and because the coal will be extracted from under our drinking water catchment. This money would be better invested on research and innovation in green steel technogy.

I support Australian steel production and would like to see Bluescope’s Port Kembla Steelworks become a leader in zero emissions steel. For this reason, I do not support this project.

• The climate crisis is escalating. We are fast approaching 1.5 degrees C of warming and climate scientists say that fossil fuels must stay in the ground if we are to avoid dangerous climate tipping points. The reline of Blast furnace 6 at this time would facilitate more burning of coal and the resultant greenhouse gas emissions at a time when we should be rapidly reducing emissions.
• I would like to see strong government support for zero carbon steel making technology, such as making steel from green hydrogen, to develop and commercialise green steel production at Port Kembla using Australian iron ore.
• Bluescope uses coal mined in the Schedule 1 Special Areas of the Greater Sydney Water Catchment, sourced from Dendrobium and Metropolitan mines. This water catchment is arguably Greater Sydney’s most important strategic asset and it should not be compromised or degraded by underground coal mining. The damage, desiccation and contamination of the catchment is unjustifiable and unsustainable; Bluescope should move to a more ethical and environmentally responsible method of steel production, one which does not damage the water catchment for the 5.5 million residents of Greater Sydney.
• In a decarbonising world, priority transition to green steel would provide job security for steelworkers. It would also create jobs for workers in the Illawarra’s other carbon intensive industries, such as coal mining

Bluescope’s proposed investment in a coal fired blast furnace reline is not consistent with the serious nature of the climate crisis. I urge the Minister to reject this project and partner with Bluescope in a transition to green steel production at Port Kembla Steel Works.

I object to the reline of blast furnace 6 by BlueScope for several critical reasons:

1. It contradicts global and Australian efforts, such as the Paris Agreement to which the Commonwealth of Australia is a signatory, to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Continued and increasing emissions by Bluescope as a result of the blast furnace reline directly contribute to climate change which results in more intense catastrophic weather events such as the 2019 Summer Bushfires and 2022 East Australia Floods. The production and recycling of steel using hydrogen produced from the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity is already a proven and industrially-scaled process in Europe. Bluescope (with NSW government support) should be investing in this technology for a clean energy future rather than continuing to rely on out-dated and environmentally damaging blast furnace technology.

2. The continued use of a blast furnace at Port Kembla uses coking coal sourced locally from the southern coal fields, this damages the environment and water security in several ways. Mining of coking coal contributes to global climate change caused by the emissions associated with coal mining and coal production. In addition, the location of the coking coal mines within the Special Catchment Area of Sydney's fresh water supply directly damages the swamps and catchment areas which are critical to the production and storage of clean water for consumption in the Greater Sydney area. Underground mining of coking coal has unequivocally proven to damage the catchment area by the fracturing of overlying strata leading to water loss in excess of 25 ML/day or 9 billion litres a year. This also contributes to the pollution of the Sydney water supply due to the leaching of heavy metals from freshly fractured rocks caused by underground coal mining; this leads to increased levels of heavy metal contamination within the water supply. In addition, the fracturing of rock permanently damages the upland swamps in the catchment area because of their inability to retain water; this creates a bushfire hazard due to the drying out of the swamp regions as they are no longer able to retain water due to the fracturing of rock strata by underground coal mining. See the Open Letter to the Premier of NSW Regarding Coal Mining in the Schedule 1 Special Areas of the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment, and the Report of Mining in Sydney Catchment by the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer.

The plan to lock in steel manufacturing with relining the coal furnace is irresponsible when it comes to pollution and clearly lacks foresight from management. The easy low risk approach they are taking comes at the expense of society and the environment. If Australia had a propoer price on carbon this reline would not be going ahead. The corporate responsibility Bluescope has needs to better factor in their emmisions. We know every tenth of a degree in warming if worth fighting for. We have seen the economic burden and devastation of floods and fire.
We all know there are clean steel manufacturing processes already in advanced stages which should be investigated with proper due diligence . In Europe there are nuch larger strel manufactures already signing clean steel offtake agreements with large users of their products, such as BMW. Other processes such as electric arc reduction is being developed by Boston Steel in the US . They ate backed by Bill Gates amongst other large investors who are well placed to bet on the future.
The project to ensure a robust strel industry for the Illawarra should be supported by government, but only if we get something in exchange for tax payers such as cleaner air and lower emissions.
Bluescope management is acting irresponsibly by finding reasons not to better plan for a clean stee future while they have this window of opportunity. We know blthe blast furnace has another decade of life it which is well within the time needed to build a clean steel processing plant. With massive half yearly profits, vast amounts of land, port access and strong local community support there are no excuses for them to ignore the opportunity to embrace the clean future of steel making here in the illawarra.
Please support Bluescope only if they act socially responsibly and take this opportunity to lower emissions and create clean jobs and products for the region.

I am disappointed that the BlueScope blastfurnance reline proposal will lock in 6million tC02-e emissions a year for the next 20 years. The minor emission reductions they are planning are simply not good enough. Other companies are developing green steel options, and scaling up renewable-powered recycling scrap steel in the interim. This proposal should go back to the drawing board and not be approved until it is much stronger, for the sake of present and future generations.

I object because:
1) This reline will lock in high greenhouse gas emissions for another 20 years. Bluescope should defer the reline to allow time for rapidly developing Green steel methods to be developed.
2) Ramping up making steel with recycled materials is not properly explored.

I support the No6 Blast Furnace Reline as it is an essential project to secure steel making capability for Australia. While the transition to "green steel" production is a must to address carbon emissions, it is not yet ready for implementation on a large scale. Completing the reline of No 6 will allow the steelworks to continue to operate while green steel production is developed, so that it can be adopted at Port Kembla in the future. The Reline will allow BlueScope to continue to contribute to the local economy through direct and indirect employment.

It supports local direct and indirect jobs. Environmental improvement upgrades are included in the project. It creates new local jobs during construction

Australia currently has only two operating blast furnaces. Hence, this project is extremely important to maintain Australia's sovereign steelmaking capability which is critical for defense, infrastructure development and transition to renewable energy. The project is effectively replacement of one blast furnace with another of similar size which incorporates considerable environmental improvements and, consequently, adverse impacts are negligible. It involves the investment of around $1B in the NSW economy and supports up to 10,000 jobs. Port Kembla steelworks is a foundational part of the Illawarra economy and community with a long history of safe operation and good corporate citizenship with many families relying on BlueScope for their livelihoods. I strongly support the approval of this project.

It is a poor environmental and business decision to proceed with this restoration of an 18th century industrial process at a time when we have a paramount responsibility to introduce industry best practice processes to the main steel making plant in NSW.
Bluescope is actively engaged in, and well down the road to, creating Green Steel in its plants overseas. So why not here? The answer is definitely a government and company that is enabling the destruction of our atmosphere through extremely narrow minded parochial "no regrets" profiteering.
Not only is that ignoring what our kids will have to suffer in a more volatile future environment (fires and floods ring a bell?), but that surely is a practice that will actually erode the profitability of the company (and viability of local jobs) when the customers of the near future (which is now!) and overseas markets demand green based steel products, and tariffs to suit.

I object to the Blast Furnace 6 reline at this time. The Port Kembla Steelworks needs a robust plan to transition to a low-carbon steel manufacturing process, and approving the reline in its current form will essentially lock in a high-emissions, coal-based process for many years to come. Furthermore, Port Kembla Steelworks needs a robust plan to transition away from using metallurgical coal from the Southern Coalfields, which come from mines undermining the Greater Sydney Water Catchment. The community needs a clear committment to a non-coal based steel production process, and until such a time I cannot support this project.

Put simply, I object to the proposal to reline Blast Furnace 6 because it is a short-sighted proposal that will do almost nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the world needs to act extremely rapidly to reduce emissions. Bluescope needs to do much more than this to reduce greehouse gas emissions and also protect our water catchment. Green steel options are being developed right now and being trialled in Sweden and other European countries. Why not do the same here in Wollongong and get ahead. The world is transitioning more and more rapidly to low and zero emissions technologies, and carbon border taxes are just around the corner. Please do bigger picture investments in decarbonisation not just a furnace reline exercise.

And if you're asking about jobs, almost any capital investment including decarbonisation efforts will involve many direct and indirect jobs. The fact that the furnace reline is associated with a certain number of jobs is neither here nor there. Other options will also produce jobs.

Over the past few years Australia has suffered by a series of climate change disasters, from bushfires to floods that have resulted in immense destruction to the homes, environment, and human and animal lives. It's crucial that the significant carbon emissions from Port Kembla Steel Works are reduced, if not eliminated, in order to address climate change. Port Kembla Steelworks does not currently have a comprehensive and coherent plan to reduce emissions. Although Green Steel investment is being discussed, plans are not yet solidified, and if actioned they would result in minimal reductions, not the significant reductions in emissions that are being developed in Sweden and other European nations, and which are necessary to curb climate change.

We are at the point of climate crisis, our planet can no longer sustain emissions heavy industries and it would be irresponsible to future generations to go ahead with the No 6 Blast furnace reline before there is a solid and transparent commitment to world class green steel production with the lowest possible emissions. It is on these grounds that I strongly object to the No 6 blast furnace reline.

I object to this proposal

Please see the attached document.

Firstly the world is warming rapidly - we are on the verge of exceeding the 1.5ºC threshold which will have devastating consequences. These impacts are already impacting tens of thousands of people. Look at the European and US green steel technology - this has been proven at pilot scale and will soon be expanded. I heard BlueScope will be "fast followers" so surely now is not the time to expand massive polluting blast furnaces but the time to invest in the transition to cleaner ways of working - for the sake of the world.

I am against the BlueScope blastfurnance reline proposal as it will lock in 6million tC02-e a year for the next 20 years. Climate action is urgently needed.

It is imperative that we decarbonise and generate green steel options to remain relevant
And competitive in a global market. This is locking Blue Scope into an outdated and polluting technology. It should be rejected based on the cumulative damage this will do to our ability to decarbonise

I am taking this opportunity, in my capacity as Director of the enterprise “Illawarra Grounds and Surrounds”, to express my wholehearted support for the Project to reline the No.6 Blast Furnace at Port Kembla.

To my mind, the No6 Blast Furnace is a critical component in maintaining the manufacturing capability of steelmaking in Australia. Its output is a vital cog in supply particularly to the domestic market underpinning building, construction, infrastructure, defence and even renewables projects.

There can be no doubt that, particularly over the past two years, Covid 19 and other more localised factors have had an adverse impact on our regional economy. Bluescope Steel has always been a strong local employment hub and an economic driver and it is quite obvious that the proposed reline project will generate significant job opportunities during its development and construction phases. Furthermore, and perhaps even more importantly to Bluescope Steel’s ongoing regional legacy, consideration must be given to the vast number of direct and indirect job opportunities that will spin-off as a result of ongoing operation and improved capacity.

Whilst I am certain that the numbers proffered by Bluescope themselves speak volumes as to the commitment, they also generate confidence in the minds of smaller business operators such as my own enterprise and pride in the local community. Highlights include:
• $1 Billion+ investment by BlueScope in the Illawarra region and state;
• A commitment to ensuring environmentally sustainable steelmaking with over $100 million to be spent on environmental improvement upgrades;
• Maximum local participation throughout the development and construction phases, outsourcing contractors and suppliers from the Illawarra region.
 
I believe it is crucial that we support this proposed project for a brighter more successful future for our City, its business community and its residents.
I would be more than happy to provide additional insight and support if required.

Kindest regards,
Brooke Rawlings

Please see the attached submission