Court orders DTE to pay $100M over Clean Air Act violations at facility on Zug Island

DETROIT (FOX 2) - DTE has been ordered to pay $100 million to comply with the Clean Air Act in a decision issued concerning a coke battery in River Rouge, according to the Department of Justice.

What they're saying:

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the energy company and three other of its subsidiaries to comply with the Clean Air Act. 

This comes after the EES Coke facility located on Zug Island failed to meet federal standards for sulfur dioxide in the air. 

The DOJ says the facility uses coal and other raw materials to produce metallurgical coke. They found that the facility increased its pollution of sulfur dioxide as a result of changes the company sought to its state air permit in 2014.

The facility, according to the court, emitted over 3,200 tons of sulfur dioxide pollution in 2018, compared to permitted baseline sulfur dioxide levels of under 2,100 tons per year.

Dig deeper:

In September 2025, the court held a two-week trial to determine which DTE entities were liable after the court found they violated the Clean Air Act.

"This decision demonstrates that the Department of Justice will seek relief against companies that fail to comply with the nation’s environmental laws," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This ensures a level playing field for all businesses and advances the Administration’s initiative to Make America Healthy Again."

On Tuesday, the court found that emissions from the facility caused asthma, heart attacks, strokes, increased blood pressure and increased risk of cancer, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, and early deaths.

The three entities the court found liable were DTE Energy Company, DTE Energy Resources LLC, and DTE Energy Services Inc. 

Documents say each entity exhibited a high degree of control over the facility, including environmental decision-making.

In addition, the court said they had found that EES Coke Battery LLC was liable as the owner and operator of the Facility.

A penalty of $100 million was found to be appropriate for the primary claim.

The DOJ said that the defendants saved $70 million by failing to comply with the Clean Air Act and were able to use that money in other ways. 

Meanwhile, the court ordered the DTE to seek New Source Review permits from the Michigan Department of the Environment and Great Lakes within 250 days.