Tina Bingham had it right.

She described hearing a swoosh and then seeing a cloud of steam drift up from the Edgar Thomson Plant, down the hill from her home in Braddock, and drop a coating of dust on her house.

A spokesman for U.S. Steel said that couldn't be the case.

But an Allegheny County Health Department study of the ash showed it matched exactly the composition of the slag at the plant.

Health department spokesman Guillermo Cole said the ash, with oxides of magnesium, iron, calcium and aluminum, was sent airborne when the slag was dumped into the quenching pools.

Cole said U.S. Steel has been cited three times for releasing visible emissions from the slag handling process. The company and another company called MultiServ, which runs the plant's slag operation, have agreed to make about $300,000 worth of improvements to the slag handling area in order to reduce emissions.

Those repairs include replacing the siding on the building to reduce the amount of steam and dust that escapes through the walls. Other repairs are installing a new waterline so that water carrying particles is not reused in slag operations and redoing the pits in which the slag is quenched.

MultiServ runs a plant on site to separate and recover iron from the slag. The company has also agreed to buy a new truck to spread water on the roadway between the furnace and the slag pits to keep the dust down.

Cole said an agreement between the health department and the companies calls for no fines to be imposed for the three violations as long as the problem is repaired.

"At least they're trying," said Roy Bingham, Tina Bingham's husband.

While Tina Bingham said it was good news that problems with the plant would be corrected, she and her husband both said they have had problems with the paint on their cars being eaten away in spots by the ash that has fallen. Roy Bingham said he would like someone to pay for repairs.

Cole said there have been three citations for air pollution from the slag handling operation. They were issued July 27, Aug. 30 and Sept. 9.

The company was also cited Nov. 1 for releasing soot from the steel-making operation. In that case, the ash was released through holes in the walls of the building, which Cole said the company is repairing.

Cole also said the company has agreed to complete all repairs by the end of January.