Officials at U.S. Steel are working to restore the Clairton Coke Works back to normal operations after an early morning power outage.
The outage, which was reported at 5:30 a.m. Monday, required the flaring of coke oven gasses from the stacks and batteries, according to a news release from Allegheny County.
“Power has since been restored, and we are flaring gas, while our employees work diligently to restore normal operations,” said Amanda Malkowski, U.S. Steel spokeswoman. “Flaring gas is necessary and required by our permit to prevent raw coke oven emissions from being vented into the atmosphere. We have notified relevant agencies, and we remain in close contact with the Allegheny County Health Department.”
The Allegheny County Health Department has been checking air quality monitors around the plant since the outage occurred, which have not indicated any adverse conditions.
Officials believe the outage “will either not affect or only minimally affect plant emissions,” the county said.
Officials are investigating the cause of the power outage, Malkowski said.
“Safety remains our top priority as we continue to work to resolve the situation,” she said.
