U.S. Steel is among the industrial polluters seeking exemptions to Biden-era requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals.

The Pittsburgh-based company, with its Mon Valley Works, is taking up the Trump administration on its offer to request a two-year presidential pass on recently updated provisions of the Clean Air Act.

Specifically, it’s asking for exemptions on coke, taconite and integrated iron and steelmaking rules. President Donald Trump has yet to make his decision, though according to an Environmental Defense Fund database, dozens of requests have been approved.

The Clean Air Act allows the president to pause requirements for certain companies if it’s determined the technology to implement the standard is not available and that it’s in the interest of national security to do so.

It’s unprecedented, however, for the federal government to court applicants.

Companies could be considered by merely emailing the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of March. U.S. Steel made its request publicly known earlier this month in a quarterly financial report.

“Seeking the presidential exemptions reflects no change to U.S. Steel’s original position that it is supportive of revisions to regulations that are within EPA’s statutory authority, based on sound science, and are technically feasible,” said Amanda Malkowski, a U.S. Steel spokeswoman.

The company unsuccessfully argued in court last year the rules would impose significant costs and set standards beyond what current technology can achieve.

But environmental groups say this so-called pollution pass will endanger public health, and U.S. Steel’s pursuit of it reflects an unserious approach to limiting the release of benzene, arsenic and other cancer-causing chemicals.

“County residents need protection from these hazardous air pollutants,” said Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project in Pittsburgh. “It just shows that U.S. Steel is willing to evade documenting its own problems.”

Hilary Lewis, steel director at Industrious Labs, was not surprised to learn U.S. Steel would take the out and ask for a waiver on costly regulations. The “really weird thing,” she said, is that they’re being offered this opportunity in the first place.

Three of the nine rules where Trump is inviting exemption requests apply to U.S Steel, she noted, putting it among the companies with the most to gain. The firm operates blast furnaces in Braddock, a rolling facility in West Mifflin and coke plant in Clairton, which produces the fuel used for steelmaking.

At least five exemptions already have been granted to power plants in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including to the coal-fired Keystone Generating Station in Plumcreek Township. The other plants are in Indiana and Cambria counties.

The Cleveland-Cliffs coke making facility in Monessen could also seek an exemption. The company’s latest quarterly report makes no mention of an attempt to do so.

Cleveland-Cliffs did not return TribLive requests for comment.

An EPA spokesperson directed questions about the number of applicants and exempted facilities to the White House, which did not immediately return a request for comment.

The future of emissions enforcement

Amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990 directed the EPA to establish emissions standards for polluting facilities. The main thrust of the recent updates, according to John Baillie, a senior staff attorney at Edgewood-based Group Against Smog and Pollution, is an expanded list of regulated pollutants, which was finalized in July.

It will take time to undo the rules, which appears to be the EPA’s goal. In March, EPA head Lee Zeldin said his agency would review regulations on power plants, airborne toxin standards and ambient air quality standards, among dozens of others.

“Twelve or 18 months down the road, I suspect the EPA will revoke the standards,” Baillie said. “And that will be it until the next Democrat is elected president.”

Until a formal rollback takes place, environmental advocates could sue to block the exemptions — hardly a sure bet, Baillie said. In his view, the data used to craft the Biden-era rules was “a little bit sketchy,” even if his organization supports them.

In Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection also is tasked with enforcing federal and state pollution control laws. The Allegheny County Health Department has a similar mandate, though it has been struggling to meet that as of late.

Some officials say the solution is for the county to raise permitting fees for polluters. A county council bill sent back to committee in December would increase installation permits for new facilities from $7,500 to $50,800. It also would push up new operating permits from $5,000 to $12,500, and renewals from $4,000 to $20,000.

U.S. Steel opposes that effort, too.

The EPA recommended increases in a 2018 audit. Council last hiked fees in 2021.

Councilman Paul Klein, a leading advocate for higher permitting fees, did not immediately return a TribLive request for comment.