“The concentrations that we’re seeing at the fenceline and inside the facilities … are unhealthy for long-term exposure for both workers and in the community,” Duggan said.
EIP also looked at regulatory compliance data for the 20 facilities. Seventeen of the sites were out of compliance with the Clean Air Act for at least one three-month period over the last three years. Noncompliance can mean that a company exceeded legal emissions limits, or that it failed to obtain necessary air-quality permits or to comply with monitoring requirements.
Ten of those plants, including Clairton Coke Works, were out of compliance for every quarter during the three-year span. Clairton drew $10.7 million in penalties for Clean Air Act violations over the last five years, more than any of the other steel facilities.
Steel industry pollution rules on pause
A year ago, the Biden administration took steps to clamp down on pollution levels at traditional steelmaking operations.
The EPA amended the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for coking plants, setting caps on previously unregulated air pollutants and requiring facilities to monitor and report their fenceline emissions of benzene. Compliance deadlines were set to begin on July 7, 2025.
Last month, however, the Trump administration postponed the new requirements, echoing steel industry groups’ complaints that the original timelines “may be infeasible for sources to adhere to.” The current EPA gave steel-sector coking operations a two-year extension to July 5, 2027, having already delayed compliance deadlines for integrated iron and steel mills.
U.S. Steel said the EPA concluded that existing air pollution rules from 2003 “are protective of human health and the environment with an ample margin of safety.” The 2024 Biden-era rules “were not risk driven but were developed based on a misinterpretation and application of the Clean Air Act,” Andrew Fulton, a spokesperson for U.S. Steel, said in an emailed statement.
Mon Valley Works — which includes Clairton Coke Works — and the Gary Works facilities “have achieved a compliance rate exceeding 99%, a testament to our employees’ dedication, skill, and care for the communities they work and live in,” Fulton said. He added that “environmental stewardship is a core value at U.S. Steel, and we remain committed to the safety of our communities.”
Environmental groups and residents of steel towns are pushing back against the delay. EIP and other organizations filed a lawsuit earlier this month, warning that postponing compliance deadlines for coking plants and other steel facilities will prolong communities’ and workers’ exposure to health-harming pollutants.
Fenceline monitoring “is the bare minimum of what justice requires,” said Qiyam Ansari, executive director of Valley Clean Air Now, a community-led organization in the Pittsburgh area. Ansari said he saw and felt the explosion at Clairton Coke Works while driving to work on Aug. 11. His group responded by distributing air purifiers, masks, and water to families in the area.
“Steel may be essential to our economy, but our lives are essential too,” he added.
