Community Groups Challenge EPA’s Weak Coke Ovens Rule in Court

September 4, 2024

Community Groups Challenge EPA's Weak Coke Ovens Rule in Court

The agency's final coke ovens rule does not reduce enough toxic air pollution to protect nearby communities

Contacts

Zahra Ahmad, [email protected], (517) 898-0924

Washington, D.C.-

A coalition of clean air and health advocates filed a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to stop industry giants from releasing cancer-causing air pollution, like benzene from coke oven plants.

In Western Pennsylvania, Northern Indiana, Alabama, and other locations throughout the U.S., coke oven plants superheat coal in a kiln. The process releases toxic chemicals like benzene, mercury, lead, and arsenic into the air. On July 5, the EPA failed communities finalizing a rule that does not reduce the toxic air pollution coke ovens emit.

Earthjustice clients filed a lawsuit challenging the new rule in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit because the EPA must protect nearby communities by controlling the release of toxic air pollution from coke ovens.

"For decades, the EPA has ignored setting coke oven standards, allowing cancer-causing pollutants to harm communities in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio," said Earthjustice Attorney Tosh Sagar. "These communities have suffered enough. We're urging the D.C. Circuit to force the EPA to finally do its job and protect them."

Quotes from our clients:

"For historic Rust Belt communities like Northwest Indiana, the EPA is often our only hope," said Just Transition Northwest IndianaExecutive Director Ashley Williams. "Oversight and enforcement to address the cumulative impacts of industrial emissions are constantly lax and overlooked by our state agencies. We embolden the EPA to step up and protect our fenceline communities living in the backyard of toxic coke oven pollution. We deserve the strongest rule possible to safeguard our airways, and we cannot wait any longer."

"Four years ago, we forced EPA to promulgate long-overdue standards for polluters to use the best available technology to reduce the hazardous emissions from coking facilities that spew toxic air pollutants and threaten the health of our communities," said PennFuture Vice President of Legal and Policy Abigail M. Jones. "EPA recently finalized those rules which include important provisions such as monitoring to protect fenceline communities. However, we believe that EPA's final regulations fail to sufficiently protect the health of local communities, like those living in the shadow of U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Allegheny County, PA."

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