The EPA’s coke oven emission regulations were created in 1987. They are meant to ensure that the side effects of steel production do not negatively impact the public. Coke oven emissions can cause chronic respiratory illness and cancer in many major organs. The agency predicted that the costs of controlling the air pollution produced by coke ovens would be in the $4 billion range. By the early nineties it was clear that the regulations only cost between $250 million and $400 million.