Shitstain Ends Fenceline Monitoring Of Toxins At Coke Ovens (Benzene, PAH, Cyanide Etc.), Citing "National Security"
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Coke ovens are high‑temperature, oxygen‑free chambers used to bake certain types of bituminous coal into coke, a nearly pure carbon fuel used in blast furnaces for steelmaking. Coal is heated to roughly 1,000–1,400 degrees Celsius, emitting particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene and other light oils, ammonia, sulfur compounds, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, cyanide compounds, metals such as cadmium and arsenic and other hazardous air pollutants. Many of these are carcinogenic. In 2025, the Trump administration announced it would exempt coke oven operators from the new requirements for two years under a provision of the Clean Air Act allowing such exceptions only if “the President determines that the technology to implement such standard is not available and that it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.”
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It’s undisputed that the technology exists to comply with the fenceline monitoring requirements because it’s already been done, (Ed. - SELC attorney Jaclyn) Brass said, when facilities complied for a brief period before the current administration came to power.
During that time, fenceline monitoring showed elevated levels of benzene at several coke oven facilities. Monitoring programs in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Alabama recorded benzene levels from nearly two to more than 14 times the occupational exposure limit recommended by the American Council of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). At ABC Coke in Alabama, monitoring equipment recorded benzene levels more than 60 percent above ACGIH’s threshold limit, increasing cancer risks in the mostly Black areas of north Birmingham and Tarrant by as much as 1.7 cases in every 10,000 people. At the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works in Pennsylvania, benzene levels were 933 percent above that threshold, increasing cancer risks by as much as 26.5 cases in every 10,000 people.
Brass said Trump’s claims around coke ovens are also dispelled by his own environmental agency. In 2025, Trump’s EPA said it “does not believe that the currently available information supports a conclusion that regulated parties would face significant immediate compliance challenges.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11022026/trump-administration-ends-coke-fenceline-monitoring/
