The following appears in a box on page 40 of the printed report. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 required EPA to cut toxic air pollution from iron and steel plant coke ovens.
Coke ovens produce the material used in blast furnaces to convert iron ore to iron.
Coke oven air emissions were already regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and states, and by EPA under the hazardous substance notification requirements of Superfund. The issue of how best to reduce coke oven emissions was contentious and had been deadlocked for 20 years. To break this logjam, EPA initiated a negotiated rulemaking process with extensive stakeholder involvement. Over two years, the Agency met with representatives of industry and industry associations, labor unions, states, and environmental groups in workshops and informal and formal meetings. Negotiators worked with stakeholders to develop a regulation that all parties could support.