Another Fire at U.S. Steel Clairton Threatens Air Quality

“At present, the desulfurization process is not operational. We are following mitigation steps to include replacing coke oven gas with natural gas and flaring while we work to repair the damaged equipment.”

Following the fire, the Allegheny County Health Department advised that the elderly, children and individuals with respiratory conditions should be aware of a potential for elevated levels of sulphur dioxide in the air, although there was no immediate need for special precautions. ACHD issued an emergency order requiring U.S. Steel to present a plan to correct the problem within 24 hours or face cessation of all coke-making operations.

“As these control rooms remain offline, this means there is no desulfurization of coke oven gas,” said ACHD in a news release. “Multiple mitigation measures are under way, like those used after the Dec. 24 fire. Health Department inspectors on-site have been instructed to observe the damage and will be providing additional information to the department.”

The fire shut down three control rooms essential for scrubbing sulphur dioxide from coke oven gases–the same rooms that were affected by the Dec. 24 fire. Control room 1 was returned to operation but rooms 2 and 5 remained shut down on Monday afternoon. By 8:15 p.m. last night repairs were completed and U.S. Steel reported successful restoration of the desulfurization process.

“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 as of data available through 5 p.m.,” said the company in its statement.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a statement that he was “very disappointed” by the incident at Clairton.

“People in this community need assurance that the pollution control equipment is reliable and usable. Organizations with critical systems like hospitals have to ensure that there are redundancies and back-ups. U.S. Steel shouldn’t be any different,” said Fitzgerald. “The health of the people of Clairton and surrounding communities, and the U.S. Steel employees, is too important to do otherwise.”

U.S. Steel recently completed repairs from the Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton coke plant and announced a $1.2 billion investment at Mon Valley Works to include a cogeneration facility at Clairton and an endless casting and rolling facility at its Edgar Thomson Plant.

U.S. Steel is currently appealing a number of fines for emissions violations occurring in 2018 and 2019. It is also facing lawsuits from environmental groups over ongoing pollution issues at the Clairton Coke Works.