Theresa Landrum

Rule Changes

Community organizer in the area affected by Zug Island emissions

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 Feb 20