Earlier this year we blogged about EPA’s proposed revisions to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for coke-making facilities (including the ones nearby in Clairton and Monessen) and integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities (including the Edgar Thompson Works in Braddock).
While those revisions have not yet been finalized, they have come under attack from a group of United States Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, including Pennsylvania’s own Senator Bob Casey, Jr.
You can read the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s report about the letter (which contains a link to the letter itself) here, but this quote from the letter is its gist:
We have serious concerns with these proposed rules because they would dramatically undermine the domestic steel industry and national security while driving production overseas likely resulting in no net reduction in emissions from the steel industry globally.
Reducing the emission of harmful air pollutants should be done based upon sound science and with proven technology that is both technically and economically feasible.
“The Senators do not describe how EPA failed to base its proposed revisions upon ‘sound science and … proven technology that is both technically and economically feasible,’” GASP senior attorney John Baillie said. “Nor do they acknowledge EPA’s own extensive findings regarding the proposed revisions’ technical and economic feasibility or the benefits to Americans’ health that would follow the revisions.”
GASP encourages folks to let Sen. Casey know how you feel about this here.