U.S. Steel: No indications of safety concerns prior to Clairton blast

A U.S. Steel executive said Tuesday there were no indications of safety concerns leading up to the explosion a day earlier at the company’s Clairton Coke Works that killed two workers and injured 10 people.

“It was a normal course of business yesterday,” said Scott Buckiso, senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer of U.S. Steel’s North American Flat-Rolled segment.

Buckiso’s comments came during a news conference at the facility that included Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt.

Officials declined to speculate on what might have caused the blast but promised a thorough and transparent investigation, which will include local, state and federal investigators.

“We need to get the facts,” Burritt said.

Shapiro thanked first responders and the steelworkers at the Clairton plant.

“It is dangerous work that they do,” Shapiro said of the steelworkers. “It shouldn’t be as dangerous as it was yesterday. We owe them an answer for what happened. We owe them answers to their questions.”

Much of the plant, which lies 20 miles south of Pittsburgh in Clairton, was operational by Tuesday.

The 392-acre facility, which has 10 coke oven batteries and sprawls along the Monongahela River, annually churns out roughly 4.3 million tons of coke, the fuel used to fire the blast furnaces that turn iron ore into steel.

“There is no risk at this point in time,” Burritt said, adding the facility would close if any safety concerns arose. “The facility is safe, and the facility will endure.”

The blast occurred about 10:47 a.m.

Allegheny County officials initially said there were reports of two smaller, secondary explosions around noon.

But U.S. Steel officials on Tuesday said those weren’t explosions but releases from relief pressure valves at batteries 19 and 20.

“They did exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Buckiso said.

Batteries 19 and 20 are closed for repairs, he said. Batteries 13 and 14, where the blast occurred, will remain closed throughout the ongoing investigation.

Buckiso said routine maintenance workers were on site in the vicinity of the explosion. He did not specify what kind of work they were doing or whether they were among the killed or injured.

Burritt said a $2 billion infusion from Nippon Steel, the Japanese steel giant that in June finalized a $14.9 billion merger with U.S. Steel, will make the plant safer and more efficient.

Nippon, Burritt said, will be pumping money into the site to ensure it can remain operational for “a long, long time.”

A Westmoreland County man, Timothy Quinn, 39, was one of the workers who died. A second man, who has not been identified, was pulled from the rubble Monday evening after an hourlong rescue mission that included first responders from throughout the region.

Shapiro said he spoke with Quinn’s sister and girlfriend before Tuesday’s news conference. The pair told him Quinn went by TQ, was a devoted father to three children and served as a mentor to his co-workers at the Clairton facility.

“He was the guy who was there for others,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro said the family of the second victim has requested that their identities remain private for now.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said air and water quality tests show levels within federal limits.

A recommendation that people living nearby stay indoors was lifted Monday evening.

Two county health department workers were at the site conducting routine inspections at the time of the blast Monday, Innamorato said. Both of them are all right, she said.

One was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries and released, according to Abigail Gardner, a county spokesperson. A pair of health inspectors was back at the facility Tuesday, Innamorato said.

U.S. Steel said the initial explosion occurred at coke oven batteries 13 and 14.

The Clairton plant is situated on the west bank of the Monongahela River about 20 miles from Pittsburgh. It’s part of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, an integrated steelmaking operation that includes the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin and the Fairless finishing facility near Philadelphia.

According to U.S. Steel, nearly 1,300 people work at the Clairton plant.