Damage at U.S. Steel Clairton Plant Prompts Air Quality Warning

Residents near U.S. Steel’s Clairton plant were told to limit outdoor activities on Wednesday due to sulfur dioxide emissions following a December fire at the Pennsylvania coke works.

“We have been closely monitoring this issue since we were first notified of the fire on December 24th. While the plant has substituted natural gas for coke oven gas and extended coking time, there have been four exceedances,” said Jim Kelly, Deputy Director for Environmental Health. “While their strategies appeared to be addressing their emissions, the data from yesterday morning showed two exceedances of the federal hourly standards. We had previously required additional controls be implemented to address each new exceedance. Following yesterday’s exceedances, the plant implemented additional actions to address the issue. We will continue monitoring the situation and consider requiring additional action, including enforcement actions, if necessary.”