County fines U.S. Steel nearly $80K in latest round of air-pollution penalties

The Allegheny County Health Department on Thursday fined U.S. Steel nearly $80,000 for air pollution the department said its Clairton Coke Works created in the first quarter of 2023.

The $79,545 fine includes soaking and pushing violations at the coke works, a 123-year-old plant that sits on 392 acres on the banks of the Monongahela River, according to health department documents.

“Pushing” is when oven emissions aren’t forced through filters when coke, a carbon-rich material central to making steel, is taken out of the oven and moved into a cart to cool. “Soaking” includes coke-oven emissions that occur after pushing but before the oven is recharged again.

A U.S. Steel spokeswoman said the health department breached obligations set in a 2019 agreement and “is reluctant to conduct inspections in a fair, consistent, reliable and credible manner.

“For some of the deviations in (Thursday’s letter), the Allegheny County Health Department did not conform to the inspection methods to which it agreed to in the June 2019 settlement agreement and EPA-proven methodologies, nor did the inspections generate credible readings,” spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski told TribLive.

“Same as it ever was,” said Patrick Campbell, executive director of the Regent Square-based Group Against Smog and Pollution. “U.S. Steel pretends to be a good neighbor, yet its Clairton plant racks up tens of thousands of dollars in violations. Not surprised over here.”

Thursday’s fine against U.S. Steel is smaller than what health officials levied against the steelmaker in February for Clairton Coke Works emissions in an earlier quarter. The $201,350 fine from earlier this year covered air pollution violations the plant created in the final quarter of 2022.

Three “major” clean-air violations occurred at the coke works between Feb. 17, 2023, and March 16, 2023, county records show. They lasted from 87 seconds to 140 seconds.

The health department also fined U.S. Steel for exceeding hydrogen sulfide limits twice, both times on March 16, county records show.

Hydrogen sulfide, a flammable gas with a pungent, rotten-­egg odor, can irritate the eyes and respiratory system, and cause dizziness, headache, weakness, irritability and insomnia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is not classified as a cancer-causing agent.

Environmental groups have linked the coke works with spikes in childhood asthma among those who live near it.

A 2020 study showed outdoor air pollution has contributed to more than one in every five Clairton children developing asthma — a rate three times higher than the national average.

In 2013, a University of Pittsburgh report on air pollution identified coke-oven emissions as one of the “top cancer drivers” in the Pittsburgh region. In a four-state area, Allegheny County was the epicenter for cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants.

Allegheny County officials didn’t plan to comment on Friday beyond what was said in Thursday’s letter from the health department to U.S. Steel, spokeswoman Abigail Gardner said.

Malkowski, the U.S. Steel spokeswoman, noted that many of its 3,000-plus Mon Valley employees live near the plants where they work.

“It’s because of their work that U.S. Steel has an environmental compliance rate above 99%,” she said.

Earlier this year, U.S. Steel settled a legal dispute with county officials to address a December 2018 fire at the Clairton facility that crippled its pollution controls.

After the fire, sulfur dioxide levels spiked. Inhaling that chemical — a colorless gas at room temperature — severely irritates the lungs and can cause increased problems for people with asthma, the CDC said. It also can irritate the eyes and skin.

Under the agreement with the county, U.S. Steel must invest nearly $20 million to upgrade coke-oven gas cleaning infrastructure. Another $4.5 million will support local communities affected by the incidents.

The company also will pay $500,000 to the Allegheny County Clean Air Fund.