Blast Furnace 6 Reline

SUBMISSION APPLICATION SSI-22545215BlueScope Steel, Port Kembla
Reline No 6 Blast Furnace

Thankyou for the opportunity to comment on the reline of the No 6 Blast Furnace at BlueScope, Port Kembla. I am very impressed with BlueScope’s efforts to consult with the community of the Illawarra on this project. The company appears to be genuine in its efforts to keep steel production in Wollongong & they have an ambition to be the steel producer for wind turbines for renewable energy production in this area. I also approve of the company’s stated intention to employ local workers, contractors & businesses for the reline work.

On the other hand, BlueScope’s plans for reducing its GHG emissions is far too slow to fit in with the urgent action needed to keep global warming within 1.5 to 2 degrees, as outlined in the latest IPC report. The stabilizing of our climate is of far more importance than taking the word of BlueScope managers at face value. A condition in the approval that enforces action from the company to ensure adequate reduction in its GHG emissions is necessary.

GHG emissions: BlueScope have planned for just 12% reduction in its GHG emissions by 2030. Additionally, the reline of the No 6 Blast Furnace extends the life of this very old technology with its huge GHG emissions to mid-2040s. Please place a condition in this approval that the blast furnace technology is retired, regardless of the life left in the reline of No 6 BF, but as soon as cleaner steel production technology is available. This fits with the Agenda Breakthrough for steel production, that Australia signed at COP26 in Glasgow recently, which commits us to near-zero emissions steel production to be “established & growing by 2030”.

Our Drinking Water: The 20-year life span the reline gives No 6 BF extends the demand for metallurgical coal mined from under the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment Special Areas. The Independent Expert Panel on Mining in the Catchment outlined clearly in its reports, the detrimental impacts on our water supplies from mining under the Special Areas. BlueScope supported the Dendrobium mine’s expansion proposal from a purely business best-bottom-line prospective & still says that buying coal locally is their preferred option because it is cheaper. In making this assessment BlueScope’s management has given very little consideration for the impact this mining, & any steel making using that coal, has on the Drinking Water Catchment that serves the huge population of Sydney as well as the Illawarra. The latter is the community in which BlueScope operates & say they care about.

Biochar: BlueScope’s plans to use biochar to replace some of the coking coal in No 6 BF, in an effort to reduce its GHG emissions is flawed & counterproductive. Forests are carbon sinks. Increasing demand for a bi-product of logging & land clearing will prolong those practices. Australia’s ecosystems are collapsing because of this sort of destruction & the loss of our forests is accelerating climate change. Please disallow this plan from any approval.

Local Air Quality: Wollongong is a place of very strong winds. Suburbs around Port Kembla are renowned for ongoing air pollution including large particle black substance that settles on any surface. On a tour of the BS Steel Works last week, I noted the long piles of coal & iron ore that are stored on site, for the steel making process. Regardless of how much watering of the piles is done I believe there is a very large probability that these piles are at least partly the source of this air pollution. Please include a condition that they must be covered at all time.
Yours sincerely, Annie Marlow, Berkeley 2506

I see it as an interim measure before green steel becomes an economical proposition. BOS steel making here is going to have insignificant effect on global warming and other methods are not practical at this time but it could quickly change but that is a risk we need to take if we are to continue to produce steel. DRI brings its own problems as to where the electricity is combined from. A lot of expenive infrastructure has to be built and what happens when the sun doesn't shine (like the last coupleof months), the wind doesn't blow, and there is a drought (Snowy 2). Those predictions from years ago may yet come true. After all we had a serious drought two years ago and 93% of California is now in drought.

The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) NSW Branch would like to express their strong support for BlueScope’s proposed project to reline Blast Furnace 6 at the Port Kembla Steelworks (see attached submission).

Protect Our Water Alliance (POWA) supports Australian steel production using the lowest emissions possible and urges that the challenge of the No 6 Blast furnace reline be met with the most ambitious plans for emissions reduction in steelmaking at Port Kembla.

POWA calls for an end to extractive industries in the Greater Sydney Water Catchment, the catchment upon which 5.5 million people rely for their drinking water. We maintain that underground coal mining is a fundamentally incompatible land use with water catchment and storage.

Underground coal mining is damaging the Schedule 1 Special Areas of the catchment. Dendrobium mine, while exporting most of its coal, supplies Bluescope’s Port Kembla Steel Works and is a particularly destructive mine, causing water loss and contamination. The cumulative and long term impacts of this damage and the implications for Greater Sydney’s water supply are poorly understood.

We strongly object to steel production which uses coal from beneath the Schedule 1 Special Areas of the Sydney Water Catchment.

https://protectourwateralliance.org/

Please refer to attached submission from Peabody and Metropolitan Collieries in support of the BlueScope No.6 Blast Furnace Reline Project.

Further to my previous submission I would add it’s imperative Australia has an iron & steel manufacturing / processing plant. Australian has to stand alone in the current & future climate & not be, as is now, a country of imports. With regards to The Greens, the pollution the Blast Furnace produces is minimal with new technologies including Dust Catchers, Brassert Washers & Precipitators it’s a very low emitting considering the size of this Blast Furnace. The Greens view should be kept in relation to the magnitude of the operation & not be allowed to “wag the dog”. There’s to much at stake not to allow the Blast Furnace to go ahead, for future generations. I worked in No 1,2 & 3 Blast Furnace Departments for 20 years before they closed down, with great pride, still perfect health, with NO side effects from pollution etc etc. That should nullify any Greens arguments, but sadly it won’t, can’t let facts get in way!!! GO No 6 Blast Furnace, a view point from the INSIDE!!!

The Bluescope steel plan to reline a blast furnace and invest nearly a billion dollars into an obsolete steel making process makes little practical or economic sense, and to propose to do so during a climate emergency beggars belief. Workers and unions, shareholders, governments and taxpayers should pay close attention to where and when money will actually be invested regarding this proposal. This timeline should be compared to the present day actual investments and enhancements of Bluescope ‘s North Star project in the United States.

Considering how far behind Bluescope steel is to even catch up with its steel making competitors, this proposal seems to lack genuine merit. It isn’t even a first follower proposal for green steel, it’s a business as usual plan when most of the worlds main steel players are going for emissions free steel quickly. To be fair, relining the blast furnace is not a proposal for either today or the immediate future, because the feasibility and research and other processes are likely to drag out for many years yet.

Bluescope have however, identified problems with setting up arc furnace green steel in Wollongong. The quality and quantity of scrap steel is insufficient to meet up to three million tones a year needed for Bluescope supply. Additionally, they have suggested that the cost of renewable power is too great in Wollongong for Arc Furnace use. We need to remember, that sourcing enough recycled steel will likely be needed for the DRI process of steel production, even with with a relined blast furnace, yet it doesn’t feature much in the planning or spending in Australia. Bluescope have not, and likely will not invest to supply the required scrap steel to Port Kembla.

Bluescope have however announced the purchase of a scrap steel supply company in the United States. They have also announced as an “additional offer” to set up powder coated steel products (or Colorbond) in the USA. Power prices for renewables in the states are perhaps more amenable to their preference. Management have also announced that they are working with Boston Metals who have a relatively advanced process for making green steel, but most importantly it doesn’t use a relined blast furnace. Meanwhile, Bluescope are accepting millions of NSW state ratepayers and federal taxpayers money, and getting local coal cheap because it is subsidized with the destruction of Sydney water catchment.

I think the actions and investments of Bluescope overseas at the North Star facility demonstrate more clearly the current and future intentions of Bluescope company directors and executives. After the Colorbond asset is successfully functioning offshore, there will be no real reason to invest nearly a billion dollars in an already obsolete blast furnace technology at Port Kembla. Bluescope will supply the North star facility with scrap steel from its recently acquired American based scrap steel company, will co-operate with Boston Metals for the rights to use the process for green steel making, then will churn out the value added Colorbond products in the USA with cheap renewable power. That change will all likely be subsidized with Australian taxpayer money.

I doubt the blast furnace will ever be relined. By the time works commence and money is being spent, Bluescope directors will likely just close the Port Kembla plant. Locals will once again be faced with the prospect of having to take over the reins and invest to revive steel making like they did when BHP pulled out.

The more valuable thing Bluescope could do with its billion dollars, is to set up a major recycling initiative in conjuction with government and private investors. There are nearly twenty million cars (each about a tonne) that will need to be retired as electric cars replace petrol and diesel vehicles. There are also multiple hot water heaters and gas stovetops and barbeques that will be scrapped as we electrify everything. This would be enough for five years or so of good scrap, and investment in a business to sort and optimize the quality of these would be useful to the future for the illawarra.

The ocean X ffshore wind project, foreshadowed for Wollongong needs to be fast tracked, and be matched with storage. The new Dapto powerplant Tallowa B, could use the Innio Jenbacher 4 or another similar generator that is capable to run on 100% hydrogen. With an Ammonia storage tank, and enough Metal Membranes technology developed by CSIRO and commercialized by Fortescue, there should be enough available Hydrogen to run the plant safely and throughout the night as needed.

Bluescopes competitors will already be well advanced on their green steel making by the late 2020’s. They will have the natural financial advantages of having renewable electricity, green hydrogen and iron ore all located in close proximity for steel manufacturing. Port Kembla under this proposal won’t have those advantages. While port Kembla might not make steel, it could still make colorbond from green steel it buys from other makers.

I suggest this proposal to reline the blast furnace should be rejected for what it is, a distraction from where the company investments and assets are going. A poor substitute for genuine investment in the Illawarra workers and businesses deserve for investing to save their town when BHP pulled out. Additionally, this proposal asks Illawarra residents to further destroy their own water catchment, to subsidise cheaper coal. Bluescope clearly lack the ambition, commitment to the people of Wollongong, and the capacity to work hard enough to change produce a business proposal that is climate appropriate, and capable to internationally compete in a transformed climate conscious market.

The reline of the Blast furnace is a failure of Bluscope’s leadership’s capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Its also a failure of economics, and demonstrates that Bluescope leadership don’t believe Wollongong is worthy of the investment that matters. The best outcome for the Wollongong area that could come of this proposal is that Bluescope management be honest with their intentions to sell the region out, and make plans to sell the port Kembla steel works to a company worthy to receive Australian government funding. Perhaps then we might have the vison and ambition to make genuine change on the timeframe of necessity, rather than the ridiculous timeframe of leisure Bluescops executive seem to have made them selves comfortable and accustomed to.

Great project to support future jobs in the Illawarra and to continue Australian Manufacturing

This project is vital to Australia's ongoing capability to produce steel.
It is breathtaking in scale and will ensure ,and add to, major regional employment opportunities at all levels from advanced engineers, scientists,to tradesperso and operators.
The project brings, from start up, immediate and massive reductions in Greenhouse gas generation and reduces the carbon footprint by about 120,000 tonnes per annum.
Furthermore, the relined furnace will be capable of adopting major advances in carbon footprint reduction, including a second injection lance making injection of hydrogen and hydrogen rich gasses into the furnaces possible, again displacing massive amounts of carbon, esp coal .
This state of the art furnace will be absolutely ready to adapt to breakthrough technologies and advances in green hydrogen production.
The No 6 Reline project is planned in tandem with other major/massive investments by BlueScope in decarbonisation projects.
I am not an employee, nor a contractor with BlueScope,having retired from that company 16 years ago.
This is the most exciting opportunity to cement the current position we in the illawarra enjoy as by far the largest manufacturing site in Australasia.
it is vital to our defence capability, because it locks in this countries capacity, capability and long established expertise in producing steel.
Without this project Australia would import an additional 2million or more tonnes of steel and our downstream manufacturing base will be further emaciated.
From my community links I can attest that the region is buzzing with excitement re this nation building and environmentally beneficial project.

This Project will help support our business and employees by providing us contract work in service and manufacturing.
The flow on effect would then be beneficial the local economies of Wollongong and Shellharbour.

Please find attached a submission from Nathan Spicer, Head of Coal Customers, on behalf of Aurizon.

We believe this will be a great project for the region and the industry

This is an exciting project that will provide significant ongoing job security for people working in the Steel industry and related industries, and opportunities for future generations to take part in manufacturing here in the Illawarra. Bluescope has a committed plan to deliver environmental improvements to eventually become net zero Carbon by 2050. Blast Furnace #6 reline will provide a current and reliable technology to bridge Bluescope's operation from the current carbon intensive method to a low carbon / net zero future state. Bluescope has demonstrated committment to future technology through it's collaboration with Rio-Tinto on low-emissions pilot plant to be based at Port Kembla Steelworks, with a hydrogen electrolyser, direct reduction equipment and a melter. These initiatives are all supported by continued profitable operations that will be fundamentally supported by the blast furnace reline.

I support the 6 Blast Furnace Reline - it ensures steel manufacturing is sustained in Australia, creates local jobs and includes environmental upgrades.

Submission on behalf of protect our water catchment objecting to the proposal to reline blast furnace number 6.

The reline will open new job opportunities in the area and allow those currently employed to remain that way.

The Flagstaff Group would like to make a submission towards the reline of the Bluescope No 6 Blast Furnace Project and support their application.

Bluescope has provided Flagstaff, a disability social enterprise with many opportunities to employ people with a disability through engaging our services in the Illawarra.

With their continued support, we have been able to grow our services thanks to their generosity in using our social enterprises that all provide employment and support for people with a disability.

The Flagstaff Group employs 409 people, 262 with a disability. Of that, some 280 live in the Illawarra. Flagstaff’s purpose is to provide life skills and employment for people with a disability in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven. Flagstaff is a disability enterprise and NDIS registered provider. We have seven business divisions that employ people with a disability in a variety of jobs from truck drivers to operations.

Bulescope’s services will support Flagstaff through:

• Printing of materials, forms, stationery and other items through Flagstaff Print, Mail and Digital
• Glove laundering through Flagstaff Commercial Laundry
• Purchase of tool bags through Flagstaff Shoalhaven
• Pick up paper recycling bin and secure shredding at The Dendrobium Mine through Flagstaff Paper to Paper
• Tagging through Shoalhaven Engineering
• Providing premises for programs at Port Kembla on Flagstaff Road.

All these services provide meaningful and secure employment for people with a disability, in particular people with intellectual disability.

By providing a stable work environment, people with disability (one in five people in Australia) can be part of the community, work in an inclusive environment and contribute to their local economy. They can achieve their goals and gain the support and encouragement they need to do so.

The No. 6 Blast Furnace Reline Projects provides economic stimulus to the Illawarra and provides jobs, opportunities and merit to many businesses in the area.

This project will bring economic growth to our retailers, our service industry, real estate and local support to schools and community groups.

Bluescope forms a valuable part of the Illawarra community and by using organisations such as Flagstaff, they support local not for profit organisations continue to afford to provide life skills and employment for people with a disability.

Steel have grown the town, provided stable income, jobs and opportunity to the area to grow and prosper. Bluescope buys local products, vehicles and services. This results a net benefit to the NSW economy.

This country needs local manufacturers. This region needs Bluescope to grow and prosper. After 2020 saw the unemployment rate soar due to a pandemic, it is our best interest to make and keep jobs for the Illawarra.

Yours sincerely


Roy Rogers
Chief Executive Officer

Will be great for sustaining our manufacturing businesses across Australia.
Environmental impacts have been analysed and minimised

SCE Group supports the Blast Furnace No. 6 Reline Project and recommends approval of BlueScope Steel’s Critical State Significant Infrastructure application. The Illawarra steel industry is a critical sector and cornerstone of our economy. SCE cannot overstate the importance of the Blast Furnace No.6 Reline project for regional employment, the local economy, and firms such as SCE.

I am an employee of BlueScope and I appreciate the significance of the Blast Furnace No. 6 Reline. The project will not only bolster manufacturing in the Illawarra region (and Australia more broadly), but also facilitate vital upgrades for energy efficiency and improved environmental outcomes. This is a thoughtful, long-term approach to ensuring job security, new roles and sustainability as we transition to new technologies.