DC Circuit rejects industry bid to halt air toxics rule

By Sean Reilly | 10/03/2024 04:11 PM EDT

EPA’s regulations set first-ever mercury emissions limits on the mills that process low-grade iron ore known as taconite.

A front-end loader sits by a stockpile of coarse taconite tailings.

A front-end loader sits by a stockpile of coarse taconite tailings, the residue of the process that extracts iron from taconite, at Ispat Inland Mining's Minorca mine in Virginia, Minnesota. A new rule aims to limit mercury emissions at taconite processing plants. Julia Cheng/AP

A federal appellate court has rebuffed two steelmakers’ bids to freeze implementation of recently toughened air toxics regulations on the mills that process the low-grade iron ore known as taconite.

U.S. Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs have not met the stringent requirements for a stay and, moreover, “have not made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed” in their challenges to the underlying regulations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in a per curiam order issued Thursday afternoon.

The regulations, made final early this year, set first-ever mercury emissions limits on the mills, all of which are located in Michigan and Minnesota. They make taconite pellets, which are then used in blast furnaces to manufacture steel.

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U.S. Steel, headquartered in Pittsburgh, and Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs are the nation’s only remaining integrated iron and steel producers still reliant on blast furnaces. In seeking the stay, both had warned of “irreparable harm” if they had to proceed with implementation of the regulations while the litigation was continuing. Cleveland-Cliffs also noted that the strengthened standards were part of a series affecting their industry and affiliated suppliers.

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