The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reversed plans to delay regulations for steel industry coke plants, the Environmental Integrity Project announced.
“It is good news that the Trump EPA is abandoning its unlawful attempt to delay the compliance deadlines for recently updated air pollution control rules for steel industry coke ovens,” Haley Lewis, attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a news release. “Communities living near these facilities waited many years for these rules to be finalized by EPA in 2024 and putting them into action now is vital for reducing hazardous air pollution and protecting people living near these plants.”
The Environmental Integrity Project and EarthJustice filed a lawsuit against the EPA because of these actions, which Northwest Indiana groups Just Transition Northwest Indiana and Gary Advocates for Responsible Development joined.
“We’re glad that EPA recognizes the harm coke oven plants cause to communities and that it is more than reasonable for these facilities to meet emissions standards now,” Adrienne Lee, senior attorney at EarthJustice said in a news release. “The health and well-being of impacted communities should not come at the cost of giving corporate polluters a pass. We hope to see the same logic and law applied to air standards at steel mills, many of which are located in the same communities as coke ovens.”
According to the Environmental Integrity Project, the EPA finalized updates to the emission standards for steel facilities with coke plants in 2024, which would have required steel mills to reduce emissions since last April. However, President Donald Trump’s administration issued an interim final rule that would delay compliance until July 2027.
The EPA held a virtual public hearing for the coke oven interim final rule in September, according to Post-Tribune archives. The agency also hosted a hearing for the interim final rule for national emission standards for integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities, which revises all 2025 and 2026 compliance dates for April 3, 2027, according to EPA documents.
Multiple Northwest Indiana facilities were included in the rule updates, including U.S. Steel’s Gary Works facility and Cleveland-Cliffs’ Burns Harbor facility. The Indiana Harbor facility, which is operated by Cleveland-Cliffs and has a partnership with SunCoke Energy, was also included.
“Our communities, which have endured generations of environmental racism and injustice, cannot afford any more reckless and unnecessary delays to compliance for coke ovens,” Ashley Williams, executive director for JTNWI, said in a news release. “We are tired of defending our fundamental right to breathe and live a healthy life in Northwest Indiana. JTNWI is relieved that EPA heard our rally cry and withdrew this dangerous proposal.”
The lawsuit challenged the interim final rule because “it deprived nearby residents and communities of protection against toxic air pollution,” according to the Environmental Integrity Project’s news release. An EPA brief filing acknowledged that coke ovens are capable of complying with the 2024 rule.
U.S. Steel responded to the EPA’s decision in a Tuesday statement. The company does not have coke ovens at its Gary Works facility, but coke is produced at the Mon Valley Works Clairton plant near Pittsburgh.
“U.S. Steel is committed to working with the EPA and supports regulations that are well-grounded in law; and are based on sound science, available and proven technology, and that consider costs and other non-air quality impacts,” a U.S. Steel representative said in an email statement. “Unfortunately, the 2024 coke rules do not meet these criteria, and we are evaluating next steps. Meanwhile, our environmental teams are working on plans and logistics toward compliance with the regulations. EPA remains open to revising the 2024 rule and we look forward to joining industry partners in continuing discussions with the agency..”
Chris Hardin, environmental manager for U.S. Steel, said in September that interim final rule deadlines are infeasible and based on insufficient data and miscalculations, adding that the EPA needs to fully consider all relevant factors before finalizing the rule, according to Post-Tribune archives.
During the EPA’s coke hearing, Michael Long, Cleveland-Cliffs’ senior director of environmental affairs, said the organization supports “environmental regulations that are based on sound science and prudent technology,” according to Post-Tribune archives.
“The technologies that would be needed … are not commercially available and have not been demonstrated to work in the coke byproduct industry either in the U.S. or internationally,” Long previously said. “EPA did not anticipate that we would need to research and develop technologies that have not been implemented in the coke sector, that might not be feasible…”
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