A coalition of environmental groups is suing to stop the Trump administration from giving makers of a distilled coal product a break on compliance with Clean Air Act requirements.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by the Pennsylvania-based Clean Air Council and a half-dozen other challengers, contests the administration’s decision last month to allow coke manufacturers more time to meet the requirements contained in hazardous air pollution regulations. Those requirements were updated last year during former President Joe Biden’s tenure.
Included in the regulations was a mandate for coke companies to begin tracking airborne concentrations of cancer-causing benzene around their plants’ fence lines. As grounds for the postponement, EPA endorsed industry concerns about the feasibility of the original timetable.
Coke is used as blast furnace fuel by the dwindling number of steel plants that turn iron ore into finished steel. The bulk of the coke industry’s 11 facilities are located in the Midwest; besides benzene, their emissions may include cyanide compounds, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, according to data reported to EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory.
