DTE To Pay $100M Penalty For Factory Pollution

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/18/2026) A U.S. District Court judge says the government proved DTE expanded its factory on Zug Island in River Rouge without the proper approvals and must pay a $100 million civil penalty.

U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain’s Tuesday opinion also says DTE must come into compliance with the Clean Air Act by applying for and obtaining the requisite New Source Review permits and forming a Community Quality Action Committee, which will receive $20 million in funding for community air quality improvement projects.

DTE “is an operator of the facility because it actively participates in, and exercises actual control over, the facility’s environmental and emissions-related activities,” Drain wrote in his 52-page opinion, noting that DTE employees “have led the facility’s day-to-day operations.”

The government alleged in a June 2022 lawsuit that EES Coke Battery violated the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) New Source Review program when it expanded its facility without first complying with permitting requirements.

The government later added DTE Energy Services and related subsidiaries, alleging DTE is also responsible for the CAA violations because it operated the facility.

Drain held a trial in September to see whether DTE was responsible.

EES operates 85 six-meter-high ovens at the Zug Island facility to produce blast furnace coke, which is an essential component in steel manufacturing.

A byproduct of the process is coke oven gas (COG), which emits sulfur dioxide, a colorless, toxic gas, among other pollutants.

In February 2025, the court found EES liable for CAA, but denied DTE’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Drain held that $70 million “is a rational benchmark” for DTE’s economic benefit of noncompliance, and he imposed a 1.5 multiplier for a civil penalty of $105 million. However, he agreed that DTE’s “good faith” effort to comply with the 2014 permit allows for a “modest $5 million” reduction in the penalty.