Statement: U. S. Steel fined $2 million for air pollution violations at Clairton Coke Works

Since December 2023, U.S. Steel has accrued nearly $10 million in penalties

PITTSBURGH – The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Monday fined U.S. Steel $1.991 million for 362 violations of its Clean Air Act operating permit at the Clairton Coke Works facility. 

In each violation, U.S. Steel failed to properly operate protective equipment meant to capture the dangerous soot released when the massive coke ovens “push” out hot coke.  Each of these violations released harmful chemicals and fine particles linked to cancer, asthma and other health problems. The county’s enforcement action also orders U. S. Steel to submit within the next 30 days a plan to attain compliance with its permit by eliminating these “pushing” violations.

This new penalty comes after the county fined U.S. Steel $2.2 million in December of 2023 for a different problem: violations of Pennsylvania’s limits on hydrogen sulfide pollution (a respiratory irritant with a distinctive, rotten egg smell). It also comes after PennEnvironment and Clean Air Council reached a January settlement, of a Clean Air Act lawsuit against the company over yet another set of air pollution violations. That settlement included $5 million in penalty payments for U.S. Steel’s failure to operate pollution control equipment required to treat the highly toxic gasses generated in Clairton’s coke ovens. The Clairton Coke Works also tops the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center’s Toxic Ten ranking of the most-toxic industrial air polluters in Allegheny County.

Taken together, these three enforcement actions since December will cost U.S. Steel $9.191 million in fines and payments. 

In response, Zachary Barber, PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center’s clean air advocate, issued the following statement:

“Illegal pollution comes fast and furious from all corners of U. S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, so it’s good to see enforcement action from the Allegheny County Health Department that attempts to match that pace. We applaud ACHD for taking another important step to hold U.S. Steel accountable for its illegal pollution, this time for unhealthy particulate emissions released directly from its coke ovens.

“To make the most of this opportunity, the county should ensure U. S. Steel quickly develops and implements the strongest possible plan to reduce the illegal emissions. Going forward, the county should continue to use every tool at its disposal to further rein in illegal pollution from U.S. Steel’s facility and send the message that it does not pay to pollute in Allegheny County. “The Clairton Coke Works is overwhelmingly the largest industrial source of fine particulate, or soot, pollution in Allegheny County. With the region on pace to fail the Biden Administration’s new life-saving limits on soot pollution, the time to act is now.”