EES Coke Battery LLC

Rule Changes

Found liable as owner and operator; must obtain new permits

EES Coke Battery has no employees. Every worker at the Zug Island coke plant near Detroit is on the payroll of a DTE Energy subsidiary. For years, that corporate arrangement helped DTE argue it wasn't responsible for the facility's sulfur dioxide pollution. On February 17, a federal judge disagreed—and used that very arrangement as evidence to hold three DTE parent entities liable as "operators" under the Clean Air Act, ordering them to pay $100 million.

Updated May 29