U.S. Steel compliance plan submitted for Clairton plant
In response to an Allegheny County Health Department enforcement order, U.S. Steel Corp. has proposed fixing alleged air pollution problems at its Clairton Coke Works by increasing staffing, training and monitoring and completing already scheduled capital improvements.
The proposed compliance plan, submitted to the health department by the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker Monday, does not include any new longer-term commitments for capital expenditures.
Meghan Cox, a U.S. Steel spokeswoman, said in an email the company has spent more than $37 million at Clairton since 2016 on environmental performance improvements, and will spend more than $65 million more to finish other improvements at the nation’s largest coke-making plant.
“Today we submitted a multifaceted plan to fully implement mandatory environmental training, hire additional employees for operations support, increase monitoring and inspections, and make additional capital improvements,” she wrote in the email. “Many of the initiatives outlined in the plan were already underway prior to the Allegheny County Health Department’s order.”
The plan states that, “Due to the limited time provided to perform engineering and other studies, we are not able to include longer-term improvement projects.”
Submission of the plan meets the deadline set in the June 28 health department order, which levied a $1 million fine on the company. The order also required the company to shut down two old polluting coke batteries if it couldn’t meet emissions limits contained in a March 2016 consent order that addressed more than 6,700 air pollution violations at the coke works during the previous 3 1/2 years.
U.S. Steel has appealed the June 2018 enforcement order. The health department has scheduled a public hearing on the appeal for 9 a.m., Dec. 3, in the firstfloor conference room, Building No. 7, Clack Health Center, in Lawrenceville.
The company’s 12-page plan states that the coke works has a 99 percent plus compliance rate with federal standards, but notes county coke emissions standards are tighter.
The company also claimed in its proposal that during the first quarter of 2018 it had a compliance rate of more than 98 percent on pushes of coke out of Batteries 1, 2 and 3.
In response to questions about the company’s compliance claims, Ryan Scarpino, a health department spokesman, said U.S. Steel’s submission is under review, “and it would be inappropriate to comment on its contents or accuracy at this time.”
When the enforcement action was announced in June, health department director Karen Hacker said that airborne particle emissions from the coke works had increased, putting public health at risk.
George Jugovic Jr., vice president of legal affairs for PennFuture, a statewide environmental organization that in 2015 threatened to sue the company for air pollution violations, said U.S. Steel’s proposed plan is a “weak” response to its air pollution problems.
“It’s not like this plan is detailing massive investments to bring the plant way under the emissions limits,” Mr. Jugovic said. “These are small investments aimed at meeting the bare minimum of standards, and that’s frustrating for the residents of the Mon Valley.”
The health department will review the proposed plan to determine if it meets emissions reduction goals. If it is approved, implementation of proposed changes must begin within 30 days.
Located about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh in the Monongahela River Valley, the coke works bakes coal to make coke that is used to make steel. It produces about 4.3 million tons annually in its 10 batteries of ovens.
The facility has a lengthy history of environmental problems. In addition to the June 2018 enforcement order and the March 2016 consent agreement, it has been the subject of enforcement actions or amended actions in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2014, and paid fines totaling about $4 million.