The Allegheny County Health Department confirmed Tuesday that U.S. Steel Corp. has repaired the electrical problems that sparked a fire and caused pollution control equipment to shut down for more than 15 hours.
As a result, the health department lifted an emergency order issued Monday that could have forced a complete shutdown of the coke works if repairs hadn’t been made within 20 days.
The fire early Monday damaged the desulfurization system, a key piece of the coke works’ pollution controls and the same equipment that was destroyed in a much larger fire early Dec. 24.
That fire caused the plant to exceed sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and soot emissions limits on 28 days over the next three-and-a-half months while the equipment was repaired or replaced.
At 8:15 p.m. Monday, the company announced that repairs were complete and normal operations had resumed after the second fire.
“Restarting the desulfurization facility and minimizing the potential for impacts to the environment and community were of the highest priority for the company,” according to a statement released by Meghan Cox, a U.S. Steel spokeswoman. “During this brief suspension of our desulfurization capabilities, mitigation efforts were deployed, and no exceedances of sulfur dioxide were recorded at nearby air quality monitors. . .”
The health department confirmed that no sulfur dioxide exceedances had occurred, but environmental groups said hydrogen sulfide levels had spiked in the hours after the fire at the Liberty monitor, downwind from the coke works, located 20 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River,
The health department said it remained concerned that the company has not invested in backup pollution control equipment and will press U.S. Steel to install a redundant system that could be used to avoid releases of coke oven gases in the future.
Health department inspectors were at the plant Tuesday morning and verified that all systems, including the desulfurization equipment, were operational.
Also on Tuesday, the health department was granted permission to intervene on the side of environmental organizations in a federal lawsuit alleging the steelmaker illegally operated the three Mon Valley Works facilities after the December fire.
As a result, the health department said all legal remedies and civil penalties would be sought through the federal judicial system, and the county will not issue any unilateral administrative orders or civil penalties related to the incident.
The environmental groups, PennEnvironment and the Clean Air Council, charged the company with violating the federal Clean Air Act in the days after the fire for failing to control emissions of sulfur dioxide and other coke oven gases.
Going the federal court route is a strategic move that avoids the issuance of unilateral consent orders for pollution violations. U.S. Steel has appealed the last three such orders since June 2018. Those appeals are pending.
“This joint action ensures the strongest case possible is brought against U.S. Steel, increases the resources available to the Department and allows for the best possible outcome for public health and impacted residents,” the health department said.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Twitter: @donhopey.
First Published: June 18, 2019, 6:48 p.m.