Editor’s Note: The public comment period for Allegheny County’s draft coke oven regulations closed as Steel’s Clairton Coke Works as well as clarify inspection procedures. Remember: You don’t have to be an expert on all things coke ovens in order to speak out. The Proposed Coke Oven Regulation Revisions will limit the sulfur content of coke oven gas is likely oven regulations at Clairton Coke.

Steel for 831 uncontrolled push violations at its Clairton Coke Works facility. Here’s what the release said: “Pushing is the operation of unloading, or “pushing,” finished coke from To contain emissions, a travel hood is placed over the vehicle outside of the coke oven door while the coke is pushed into the car. The US Steel Clairton Coke Plant is required to submit monthly process information reports to the Health

Editor’s Note: The public comment period for Allegheny County’s coke oven regulations closed as of 4 about having to shut their windows on nice days to keep out noxious odors emanating from the Clairton Coke Steel’s Clairton Coke Works and clarify inspection procedures, the draft revisions were the topic of For years now, we have implored the ACHD to do more to control emissions coming from the Clairton Coke PA DEP Air Emissions reporting shows Clairton Coke Works emitted about 156 tons of H2S in 2019.

Steel’s Clairton Coke Works for more than three months sickened local residents. “In addition to verifying that people living within a 10-mile radius of the Coke Works had higher rates The facility produces highly refined coal (also called coke) that is used as fuel in the manufacture Creating coke results in the emission of myriad air pollutants, which are minimized through the plant Research (AIR) registry to collect information from 39 asthma patients living within 10 miles of the coke

Editor’s Note: The public comment period for Allegheny County’s draft coke oven regulations closed as With that out of the way, let’s start at the beginning… Coke Oven Emissions 101 Simply put, coke is produced ACHD’s Coke Oven Regulations: What’s New & What They Will Do Presently, ACHD coke oven regulations spell Revise inspection protocols for fugitive emissions from the coke ovens. The agreement also requires coke oven regulation changes to be “technically feasible.”

Two bills introduced in the state Senate recently would exempt cars registered to owners in seven Pennsylvania counties - Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland- from emissions inspection requirements and exempt cars statewide from the emissions inspection requirement for five years after they are manufactured. With respect to the first piece of proposed legislation, Senate Bill 561, the thinking of its sponsors seems to be that cars registered in those counties should be exempt because all areas in those counties attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), including the standard for ozone (quick background: reducing ozone pollution is the primary purpose of the vehicle inspection requirement). “Indeed, EPA authorized North Carolina to remove cars registered in 26 of its 100 counties from its emission inspection program on just this basis in 2018,” GASP senior attorney John Baillie explained. With respect to the second proposal, Bill 562, the idea seems to be that newer cars are less polluting, that they almost always pass emission inspection anyway (thus, the emission inspection very rarely catches a new car with illegal emissions), and that other states (including California, New Jersey, and Delaware) provide such exemptions for new model year cars – so why shouldn’t Pennsylvania also? Vehicle emission inspections, where they are required, are mandated by the Clean Air Act and its implementing regulations. If Senate Bills 561 and 562 are enacted, would they conflict with the Act and those regulations, and thus presumably be preempted? Or would they be consistent with the Act? Let’s look at this, taking the bills out of order. So, starting with Senate Bill 562: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations that establish the requirements for vehicle emission inspection programs require emission testing for “1968 and later model year vehicles.” However, the Clean Air Act itself does not specify which model years must be included by a state in its vehicle emission inspection program. Rather, the Act requires that a state’s emission inspection program meet a “performance standard” that EPA has interpreted to mean a maximum average rate of emissions of certain pollutants from all vehicles subject to the program. “As a result, EPA can exempt vehicles in a state from emission inspection requirements provided that the state demonstrates that the fleet of cars in the areas of the state subject to the inspection requirement meets the performance standard,” Baillie said. Because the performance standard was developed decades ago and cars have gotten considerably cleaner since, that demonstration (which is done by computer modeling) is relatively easy for a state to make, even when the program includes an exemption for cleaner, newer cars. “The Clean Air Act would not appear to preclude Senate Bill 562’s proposed exemption to Pennsylvania’s emission inspection program for newer cars,” he continued. Now on to SB 561: In contrast, the Clean Air Act does specify the areas that must be included in Pennsylvania’s vehicle emission inspection program. Section 184(b)(1)(A) of the Act provides that “each area [in a state in the Ozone Transport Region, which includes Pennsylvania] that is a metropolitan statistical area or part thereof with a population of 100,000 or more” must comply with the Act’s vehicle emission inspection requirement. The need to have a vehicle emission inspection program is not dependent on nonattainment of the NAAQS (unlike in North Carolina, which is not in the Ozone Transport Region). This helps states downwind of Pennsylvania attain the ozone NAAQS by limiting the amount of ozone-forming compounds that can cross the state lines even when those compounds may be emitted in areas that attain the NAAQS themselves. So, is each of Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland Counties included in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and does each of them have a population of at least 100,000? All seven of the counties have populations of more than 100,000 and are in an MSA. “It thus appears that Senate Bill 561’s proposed removal of vehicles registered in Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland Counties from Pennsylvania’s emission inspection requirement would not be allowed under the Clean Air Act,” Baillie said. We will continue to track Senate Bills 561 and 562 and keep you posted.

Steel’s Clairton Coke Works is quickly approaching, and it’s so important that regulators hear from residents Steel Clairton Coke Works’ Draft Permit “During our review of the draft permit for the Clairton Coke Transfer Process, No. 1 and No. 2 Coke Screening Stations, Coal and Coke Recycle Screening Process, and Peters Creek Coke Screening Process. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works (#0052-OP22).

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Friday is now seeking public comment on its proposed coke In the release, ACHD wrote: Coke making is a process by which coal is baked at very high temperatures The only coke facility in Allegheny County is at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Works. The regulation changes will: Incorporate coke oven inspection procedures into the regulations; Address issues of stringency with federal and Pennsylvania regulations; Correct coke oven gas standards, and

Advisory Committee on Monday voted 5-4 to recommend that the Board of Health send revisions to its coke Steel – the sole coke oven operator in Allegheny County – said they were “disappointed” in the proposed GASP late last year petitioned ACHD to keep its 2018 promise to tighten up its coke oven regs to reduce “It’s important to remember why these regulations are so important: Coke-making is a primary source of Steel’s Clairton Coke Works is the largest emitter of H2S not only locally, but in the entire state,”

How did ACHD come up with the penalty amount? “Unfortunately, that spin comes as no surprise – just more gaslighting from the most egregious air polluter