This story was updated May 29.
For the first time, some plants that make a distilled form of coal will have to keep tabs on airborne concentrations of cancer-causing benzene around their boundaries under a newly updated set of EPA air toxics regulations that are weaker in key aspects than what the agency proposed last year.
“There are no measurable air quality impacts from this rule that can be guaranteed,” EPA staff wrote in the final rule, which updates hazardous air pollutant (HAP) standards for coke ovens for the first time in almost two decades.
The final rule’s release in accord with a court-ordered deadline comes about 10 months after EPA issued the draft; it applies to a total of 11 plants that make coke, a critical fuel for the small number of remaining integrated mills that turn iron ore into finished steel.
