U.S. Steel fined $2.2 million by Allegheny County Health Department for air emission violations
CLAIRTON, Pa. (KDKA) -- If you sometimes smell something like rotten eggs in the air, chances are it's hydrogen sulfide coming from the Mon Valley. The county health department is fining U.S. Steel millions of dollars to bring it under control.
The sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel may soon come to pass, but the Allegheny County Health Department is giving the former steel giant a potential going away present: a $2.2 million fine for air emissions violations primarily at the Clairton Coke Works.
In this enforcement order, the county says the Coke Works was responsible for 94 days in high-level exceedances of air emissions standards for hydrogen sulfide, a respiratory irritant.
"It's also the source of that terrible rotten egg smell that just about everyone in Pittsburgh comes to recognize when the air smells really bad," said Matthew Mehalik of the Breathe Project.
The fine is just the latest in what has been an ongoing push and pull between U.S. Steel and the health department over operations at the Coke Works. Responding to complaints of elderly residents with chronic health conditions, the county has cited and fined the facility while U.S. Steel has said it has invested millions to clean the air.
In a statement to KDKA-TV, the company said, "U.S. Steel attempted to work with the Department, but the Department unilaterally terminated those discussions. U.S. Steel values our shared environment and the communities in which we operate, and we prefer to work with the Department collaboratively in these efforts."
Environmentalists like Mehalik say those efforts have fallen short.
"They may have invested that money. The plant is huge and it's old. And there are many pieces that are failing," Mehalik said.
But even under new ownership, Mehalik believes the Coke Works days may be numbered.
"There may be a way to extend it for a few years but the long-term prospects are not good because the worldwide steel-making industry is making movements to de-carbonize itself and not operate with these old industrial processes," Mehalik said.
If the sale goes through, conditions at the Coke Works will remain. And it will be up to a new owner to resolve differences with the county.