Clairton coke oven may not be affected by EPA's clean power plan standards

Triblive reported that Coke ovens such as those in Clairton may not be affected directly by proposed Environmental Protection Agency Clean Power Plan standards aimed at coal fired power plants.

An EPA spokeswoman said that “(The standards are) a commonsense plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. It does not propose requirements for the steel industry.”

Ms Courtney A Boone spokeswoman US Steel said that “They will create a situation where electric rates will go up. Then those rates will be passed along to the consumer, that is, us, and that is how they will impact our operations.'

Ms Enesta Jones agency press officer said that “EPA did not conduct a quantitative analysis of the impact of the proposed plan on industries outside the electric generating sector.”

Her agency issued restrictions on coke oven emissions in the past. Standards were set in 1992, revised in 2000 and led to an overhaul of US Steel's Clairton Plant, North America's largest coke producer.

On January 31st 2013, US Steel commissioned a state of the art C Battery to replace Batteries 7-9 as part of a half billion dollar project that included construction of new low emission quench towers and environmental rehabilitation of Batteries 1-3. Some months later, EPA began what it called an unprecedented public outreach to draw up its Clean Power Plan.

Ms Jones said that “Since last summer, the agency has collected extensive public input, including 11 public listening sessions and meetings with more than 300 groups from across the country.”

That included the American Iron and Steel Institute, whose member companies represent more than 75% of steel capacity in the United States and Canada, and the United Steelworkers, which represent workers at Clairton and other US Steel facilities.

Mr Wayne Ranick steelworkers spokesman said that “It's going to take us some time to work our way through the ruling and until we do so, we are not making further comment.”

Mr Thomas J Gibson institute president said that “The leading states in terms of iron and steel production in the US are heavily dependent on coal for electricity production, and therefore, so is our industry. A regulation from EPA that will disproportionately impact coal-generated electricity will have a detrimental effect on steelmaking.”

Mr Mario Longhi president & CEO of US Steel said that “These guidelines take direct aim at the coal industry, and in turn take aim at manufacturing. As an energy intensive, trade exposed industry, steel will bear the weight of this onerous regulatory burden as electricity costs are passed on to the users.”

Mr Longhi said that “Regulations such as these put the steel industry, and domestic manufacturing, at a competitive disadvantage against other steel producing nations such as China, India and Russia where such environmental rules do not exist or are ignored.”