\u201cIn my neighbourhood, people clean their houses three times a day due to the dust. Whenever there is wind, it enters their homes. It\u2019s very sad,\u201d Ricardo Nascimento, a resident of the city\u2019s Brasil\u00e2ndia neighbourhood for the past 11 years, told Dialogue Earth. This area of Volta Redonda is also located close to a waste site linked to the company\u2019s operations, where slag, the solid wastes that steelmaking processes generate, has been deposited for decades. The site has been dubbed the \u201cslag mountain\u201d by locals and media, and blamed as another source of the dust. \u201cThe impact for us is this one: sick people,\u201d Nascimento added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe pollution inside houses represents a giant risk,\u201d said Leandro Vargas, who works in toxicology at Fiocruz, a Rio-based health research institute. \u201cThe limits set don\u2019t preserve the population\u2019s health. There are many impacts on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal government platform Painel Vigiar monitors pollution and its health impacts. Its data shows that Volta Redonda consistently ranks above national averages for deaths, lung cancers and other illnesses estimated to be attributable to particulate air pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, CSN has taken measures and sought financing to confront<\/a> pollution. This has included modernisations and upgrades at its steelworks, such as filters to try to counter its emissions. This followed multiple \u201cconduct adjustment\u201d agreements it has had with the Rio de Janeiro state government to meet its environmental obligations. One of these was a six-year agreement signed in 2018, with a deadline that was ultimately extended to 2026 \u2013 the associated inspections<\/a> took place last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2024, Brazil\u2019s public prosecutor recommended<\/a> expanded monitoring of pollution in Volta Redonda, having disputed<\/a> previous air quality measurements by Inea, the state-level environment agency. On Dialogue Earth\u2019s visit to the city in June, local residents and organisations said they felt this had not been enough to assure better air quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, the civil society association Ethics in Politics Movement Volta Redonda (MEP-VR) conducted a poll<\/a> of 334 residents. Forty-seven percent of respondents said they felt the level of pollution had increased on the previous year, while 46.7% felt it had remained the same. On a scale of zero to 10, the residents\u2019 perception of pollution was almost at its highest: 9.2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dialogue Earth consulted Volta Redonda\u2019s environment secretary, Jorge Alberto Felipe Cury: \u201cWe know that the situation is far from ideal, however, actions are being taken by CSN to mitigate damage, such as the recent installation of filters inside the plant. According to monitoring panels spread throughout the city, the air quality is good.\u201d He said that this referred to data provided by Inea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest focus on CSN\u2019s environmental performance at its base in Volta Redonda also comes at a time when the steel industry, in Brazil and beyond, is exploring pathways to decarbonisation and producing \u201cgreen steel\u201d<\/a>. The company has itself launched<\/a> pilots to produce green hydrogen, a potentially key future input for near-zero-emissions steel, and states<\/a> it is analysing more than 100 emission-reduction projects for feasibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CSN has also reportedly fed<\/a> green hydrogen into its blast furnaces in Volta Redonda, to begin to reduce emissions and dependence on coal. But for those living closest to its homebase in the city, cleaning up pollution remains an urgent task for today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The founding of CSN came during the first government of Get\u00falio Vargas, a president who oversaw nationalisation plans and the consolidation of pro-worker labour laws. The Brazilian national oil company Petrobras was also established during his administration. While Dialogue Earth heard differing views in Volta Redonda on CSN\u2019s current responsibilities and its future, there remains something of a consensus on a past that brought benefits for the company\u2019s workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Volta Redonda developed with and around its main historical employer, including purpose-built \u201cvillages\u201d that used to house company staff. The city reached a population of around 261,000, according to the 2022 Brazilian census<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Local people described grandparents and parents with well-paid jobs and other advantages, such as good schools and company-supported social clubs. In the 1990s, like other Brazilian national companies such as the miner Vale, CSN was privatised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This change arrived as other external factors affected Brazilian industrialisation, including the massive migration of manufacturing to Asia, and automation, which reduced the number of jobs in the sector. But the moment is nonetheless seen by some as a milestone in the relationship between the company and Volta Redonda\u2019s population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCSN passed from a city\u2019s father to an unknown,\u201d said Lu\u00eds Ant\u00f4nio Lima Neves J\u00fanior, an urbanist and socio-environmental coordinator from the MEP-VR. Now, he said, \u201cthere is precariousness in the jobs, including an outsourcing of services\u201d. In recent years, the company has also been subject to fines for its accountability over impacts<\/a> to workers and the local population, and to the environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is a very important environmental legacy to be repaired. We have always recognised the historical and current role that CSN has played since its founding. It\u2019s a benchmark for development in Brazil. However, this came with profound marks on local quality of life,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Maria da Silva, the MEP-VR\u2019s executive director, told Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fiocruz toxicologist Vargas argued it is \u201ccommon in cities with huge ventures such as CSN that those companies co-opt the population\u201d through wide employment. \u201cThey always do everything to show that they are looking after people,\u201d he claimed. \u201cIn any case, chronic exposure leads to illness, even if people don\u2019t make the connection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n J\u00fanior described a decades-long journey and awareness around the city\u2019s air quality. \u201cIn the 2000s, there was the discovery of the impacts of pollution that used to be treated as normal. At this moment, the population started to fight for its rights,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, as time went by, it became normalised again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But today, his colleague da Silva highlighted, \u201cthere are technologies that were not available decades ago that can repair parts of the emissions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CSN has begun to explore integrating these technologies, but the need for upgrades comes at a challenging moment for the company, and the wider Brazilian steel industry. It has been under pressure<\/a> from cheap imports that have hit competitivity and profits, and limited<\/a> capacity to invest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, CSN has sought to confront debts of BRL 40.5 billion (USD 8 billion), announcing<\/a> plans to sell stakes of its subsidiary activities, including infrastructure and cement. Some sources have claimed<\/a> this could generate between BRL 5-8 billion (USD 1-1.6 billion) in cashflow for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Volta Redonda, the news around CSN\u2019s asset sales have fuelled rumours and anxiety on\u00a0the company\u2019s plans to keep operating in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat will be left for us? Who is going to pay the bills?\u201d asked Nascimento. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven in the case that the steel plant isn\u2019t for sale now, there are no indications that the activities will last for much more in the city,\u201d claimed J\u00fanior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CSN was approached for comment on concerns raised by residents in this report, but at the time of publication Dialogue Earth had yet to receive responses. In January, it was reported<\/a> that the company was considering the sale of its steelmaking assets, which it did not confirm or deny at the time. Coverage has since focused on CSN\u2019s preparations<\/a> for bids on its cement and infrastructure divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent decades, a huge waste pile has sprung up on the banks of the Para\u00edba do Sul River that runs through Volta Redonda. It has attracted much attention, and local worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the day, trucks loaded with slag unload their cargo onto the growing pile. The massive accumulation has caused concern for local residents due to the spreading of dust from its surface, especially on days with higher winds. But they have also expressed fears beyond this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe slag is there, and near the river. All of our neighbourhood could be affected in the event of a slide, and also the watercourse. This would reach the wider population. It would be like Brumadinho and Mariana,\u201d said Ricardo, referring to two of Brazil\u2019s worst ever environmental disasters. In both cases, the collapse of tailings dams<\/a> containing mining wastes caused massive damage to local populations and dozens of deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a tragedy waiting to happen,\u201d said J\u00fanior of the MEP-VR.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe \u2018city\u2019s father\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>The slag is there, and near the river. All of our neighbourhood could be affected in the event of a slide, and also the watercourse<\/blockquote>Ricardo Nascimento, resident of Volta Redonda\u2019s Brasil\u00e2ndia neighbourhood<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018slag mountain\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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