Norm--I know that you don't want to hear this, but any of us that drive a car (myself included), drive the steel industry.  If we really want to demonize anyone, demonize ourselves for the lifestyles we lead. 

I, for one, am grateful that the furnaces at Mittal do not run as constant as they did during the nineties under Republic Steel--LTV, when I lived in Tremont.  Just as I am glad that we don't pollute our skys with lead, and acid rain has become less of an issue for us, now that we have tranported our major coal burning to Asia. 

We all need to reconsider our lives and the compromises we are forced to make to get by and live well.  Cleveland is well-situated for a green lifestyle.  We need to see the model of the Inner Circle and your family's commitment to live well--grow exponentially--soon.  It will "drive" our new economy.

I've never bought a new car - my wife and I share a used car. We are moving to a walkable distance from work (I largely work at home) and the neighborhood of NEO we like best - University Circle - and as near good public transportation as possible. Our family buys as few new things as possible. Most demand for steel is from behaviors I do not support, like senseless consumerism and wasteful lifestyles in America, and people who lead such lives will be demonized. No time for all is well living... all is not well.

Regarding Mittal, reposted here from a prior analysis of the subject, consider, from Ohio Citizen Action, the state's largest environmental organization, with 100,000 dues-paying members:

  The Cleveland Works is the single largest polluter of the air and water in Cuyahoga County, according to reports submitted to the Ohio EPA. It released 76 million pounds of air pollution in 2003 (Source: ISG 2003 Title V fee emissions report).The plant sits on the Cuyahoga River, and discharges 100,000 pounds of pollution into the river (Source: Ohio EPA Toxics Release Inventory, 2001). New data submitted to the Ohio EPA show that the asthma and cancer-causing pollution has risen over 30% from 2003 to 2004. Because the plant is so close to Lake Erie, both its air and water pollution can endanger the lake. Since the steel mill reopened, pollution problems in nearby neighborhoods have included metal flakes and soot covering people's cars and homes, nauseating odors including strong sulfur smells, loud noises, and visible orange and yellow clouds coming from the stacks.

So here was the cost to real NEO in 2003 for the 1,200 "good" jobs that came from all the politicing, and town halling, and backroom dealing, and foreign venture capitaling, per job, in 2003 - and for 2004 we know "the asthma and cancer-causing pollution has risen over 30% from 2003 to 2004" so it is imaginable the results are much worse today, in 2006:

•  72,500 pounds of air pollution spewed upon our neighborhoods per Mittal employee, in 2003
• ... that's 31.25 tons of air pollution per employee in 2003
• 83.3 pounds of pollution discharged into the Cuyahoga River and so Lake Erie per employee in 2003
• 1 acre of land kept out of clean, sustainable development per employee
• ... that's 43,560 square feet of blight per employee

 So that was just the raw pollution emissions cost to real NEO citizens in 2003 for the 1,200 "good" jobs that came from all the politicking, and town halling, and backroom dealing, and foreign venture capitalizing, per job, in 2003. But Ohio Citizen Action data finds that "the asthma and cancer-causing pollution has risen over 30% from 2003 to 2004" so it is imaginable the results are much worse today, in 2006. But, just looking at 2004, consider the cost in health harming pollutions per Mittal employee:

• Small particles (invisible; can damage lungs): 801.82 pounds per employee
• Large particles (visible soot and flakes; can cause property damage): 343.3 pounds per employee
• Sulfur dioxide: 1,236.65 pounds per employee
• Organic chemicals: 185.83 pounds per employee
• Volatile organic compounds: 185.83 pounds per employee
• Lead: .2 pounds per employee

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