Editing Coke (fuel) (section)

===United States===
[[File:Coke burning.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|Illustration of coal mining and coke burning from 1879]]

In the US, the first use of coke in an iron furnace occurred around 1817 at Isaac Meason's Plumsock puddling furnace and rolling mill in [[Fayette County, Pennsylvania|Fayette County]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite book|last=DiCiccio|first=Carmen|title=Coal and Coke in Pennsylvania|publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission|location=Harrisburg, PA}}</ref> In the late 19th century, the [[coalfield]]s of [[western Pennsylvania]] provided a rich source of raw material for coking. In 1885, the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company<ref>A subsidiary of the [[Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway]].</ref> constructed the world's longest string of coke ovens in [[Walston, Pennsylvania]], with 475 ovens over a length of 2&nbsp;km (1.25 miles). Their output reached 22,000 tons per month. The [[Minersville Coke Ovens]] in [[Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania]], were listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1991.<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

Between 1870 and 1905, the number of beehive ovens in the US increased from approximately 200 to nearly 31,000, which produced nearly 18,000,000 tons of coke in the Pittsburgh area alone.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eavenson|first=Howard N.|title=The First Century and a Quarter of American Coal Industry|year=1942|publisher=Waverly Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref> One observer boasted that if loaded into a train, "the year's production would make up a train so long that the engine in front of it would go to San Francisco and come back to Connellsville before the caboose had gotten started out of the Connellsville yards!" The number of beehive ovens in Pittsburgh peaked in 1910 at almost 48,000.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Kenneth|title=Wealth, Waste, and Alienation: Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry|year=2001|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref>

Although it made a top-quality fuel, coking poisoned the surrounding landscape. After 1900, the serious environmental damage of beehive coking attracted national notice, although the damage had plagued the district for decades. "The smoke and gas from some ovens destroy all vegetation around the small mining communities", noted W. J. Lauck of the U.S. Immigration Commission in 1911.<ref name=Martin>{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Scott C.|title=Killing Time: Leisure and Culture in Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1800–1850|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref> Passing through the region on train, [[University of Wisconsin]] president [[Charles R. Van Hise|Charles Van Hise]] saw "long rows of beehive ovens from which flame is bursting and dense clouds of smoke issuing, making the sky dark. By night, the scene is rendered indescribably vivid by these numerous burning pits. The beehive ovens make the entire region of coke manufacture one of dulled sky: cheerless and unhealthful."<ref name=Martin/>

In 2024, an investigation into 17 coke burning facilities in the US could be responsible for an estimated 892 premature deaths every year, as well as increased [[asthma]] symptoms and other health impacts for residents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bauer |first=Will |date=2024-12-04 |title=Granite City plant could be responsible for 6 to 11 premature deaths annually, report finds |url=https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2024-12-04/granite-city-plant-could-be-responsible-for-6-to-11-premature-deaths-annually-report-finds |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=STLPR |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px">
File:Coke-Ovens---Cokedale-CO.jpg|Coal coking ovens at [[Cokedale, Colorado]], supplied steel mills in Pueblo, CO
File:Cherry Valley Coke Ovens 3.jpg|The 200 [[Cherry Valley Coke Ovens]] built around 1866
File:Dunlap-coke-ovens-tn2.jpg|[[Dunlap coke ovens]]
File:Minersville Coke Ovens.jpg|[[Minersville Coke Ovens]]
File:Old coke ovens, Redstone, CO.jpg|[[Redstone Coke Oven Historic District]]
File:SydneyCokeOvenGeneralViewCa1900.jpg|[[Sydney Tar Ponds]]
</gallery>