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Mike Trumpe of Carroll Township crosses Maple Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, near U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works.
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New county order would speed up repairs to US Steel coke plant, curtail pollution

Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette

New county order would speed up repairs to US Steel coke plant, curtail pollution

April 15 deadline would be months earlier than company's previous plan

Hoping to speed up repairs to U.S. Steel’s fire-damaged Clairton Coke Works, the Allegheny County Health Department on Tuesday issued a new enforcement order that says the steelmaker has to have the work completed by April 15 – earlier than U.S. Steel had previously said it could fix the coke works pollution controls.

The order sought to enshrine in a legal document what the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said last week, when it outlined a new plan to complete repairs to the pollution controls at the coke works by that same date – April 15 – in addition to making other adjustments to help reduce pollution, including extending the coke baking time. U.S. Steel had previously said it hoped to have 70 percent of the work completed by mid-May.

“This is right now the most solid, practical way of repairing the equipment and reducing the emissions, without the safety issues that could harm their employees,” said Jim Kelly, the county’s deputy director of environmental health, who signed the order.

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Not only had U.S. Steel previously outlined its new plan with those promises, it also made a “verbal agreement” to the main points in the county’s new order prior to a meeting with a hearing officer on Monday, he said.

Houses nearby U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works can be seen in this aerial photo taken on Thursday, January 17, 2019, in Clairton.
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“Before we submitted this [order] we had a verbal agreement with them,” Mr. Kelly said Tuesday. “They in effect agreed to the terms of the order with the hearing officer.”

But Mr. Kelly added: “After that the lawyers were going to work out the language.”

And that language may be a sticking point preventing the order from being followed through on.

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U.S. Steel spokeswoman Meghan Cox said in a statement Tuesday night, in part: “While we are pleased that the ACHD considered the safety concerns and some alternatives that we provided the Department on March 7th, we are disappointed that the Department pursued the issuance of the Enforcement order. We are currently reviewing the Order to determine if compliance with its requirements can be achieved and sustained in a safe manner without compromising environmental performance.”

The county has been pressing U.S. Steel to speed up repairs to the pollution controls since a Dec. 24 fire at the coke works led to surges in sulfur dioxide emissions well above allowable limits.

In addition to setting the deadline for getting 100 percent desulfurization operations back by April 15, the county’s order also requires U.S. Steel to begin slowly extending coking time from the current 22 hours to 27 hours by March 23 to help reduce emissions from that process.

In addition, by April 1, the steelmaker has to have installed six axial compressors and have them operational.

U.S. Steel said the desulfurization system at the Clairton Coke Works has been repaired and is working. The system was damaged in a fire in December.
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Mr. Kelly said having those controls by April 1 was something the steelmaker objected to, but the county felt it was important as a way to take a significant step toward meeting the April 15 deadline for 100 percent desulfurization.

“We had to push them really hard on that,” he said.

Another main point in the order was requiring U.S. Steel to provide weekly data from its on-site internal measurements on emissions from its stacks. The county has monitors off site that read the ambient air.

But Mr. Kelly said getting on-site data is crucial to assessing whether repairs and other changes are working to reduce pollution.

“Our point is this: We want to reduce emissions as soon as possible,” he said. “These are steps toward that.”

While U.S. Steel expressed disappointment that the county felt the need to issue a new order – one that nullifies a previous order that U.S. Steel had appealed – Mr. Kelly said it was absolutely necessary.

“It does make [the timeline] enforceable,” he said. “If they don’t do it, we can enforce it through penalties.”

He added: “Of course, they can appeal, and they can get another stay. We hope this gets it done, though.”

Sean D. Hamill: shamill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2579 or Twitter: @SeanDHamill

First Published: March 13, 2019, 12:37 a.m.

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