As Trump delays steel pollution rules, study shows public health risks

The deadly explosion in Clairton, Pennsylvania, this month shone a light on a niche type of industrial facility: coking plants, which purify coal for use in traditional steelmaking. The Clairton facility had a long history of environmental and safety issues, but there are 10 other coking plants in the United States, and all of them are part of a steelmaking process that experts say is risky, dirty, and outdated.

Last week, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project released a report that assesses air monitoring data from coking plants and integrated iron and steel mills in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The organization found that potentially dangerous levels of two pollutants, benzene and chromium, were detected at the perimeter of some of these facilities in recent years.

A growing coalition of clean-air advocates, community members, and former steelworkers is urging America’s steel producers to shift away from coal and invest in cleaner manufacturing methods. In the meantime, EIP said its new research underscores the need to increase federal scrutiny of traditional steel plants while they still exist — instead of pulling back, as the Trump administration has done in recent months.

“The industry needs more accountability and oversight, not less, to protect workers and neighbors,” Jen Duggan, EIP’s executive director, said on a call with reporters.

Researchers analyzed fenceline monitoring data that manufacturers collected at 20 steel-related facilities from October 2022 to April 2023. The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency had required coking plants and steel mills to monitor emissions during that period as the agency developed new air pollution standards for the industry.

At U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works near Pittsburgh, for example, monitors showed that the highest six-month average for emissions of benzene was 25.9 micrograms per cubic meter — eight times higher than a key public-health threshold for long-term or chronic exposure. Benzene is a carcinogen that can cause blood disorders and increase a person’s risk of leukemia.

Another U.S. Steel facility, the Gary Works steel mill in Indiana, recorded a six-month average concentration of chromium that was more than twice a health-based threshold for the pollutant. Chromium is a heavy metal that can cause breathing problems and kidney damage, and increase the risk of lung cancer. Earlier this week, U.S. Steel’s parent company Nippon Steel said it plans to revamp the largest coal-fueled blast furnace at Gary Works starting in 2026, which would extend its working life for up to 20 years.

For the report, EIP said it compared the pollution data to thresholds established by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, since the federal EPA and many states don’t set chronic or long-term exposure limits on benzene and chromium in the air we breathe. The California standards are also considered to be more protective of public health than the federal thresholds that trigger actions to clean up the two substances.

“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.