Clean air act: U.S. Steel's upgrade at Clairton gets better
Share with others:
Two years ago U.S. Steel Corp. announced a $1.2 billion plan to replace and upgrade its coke oven operation at the Clairton works in the Mon Valley.
The ambitious project, which is under way, was meant to modernize a key component in the company's process, the baking of coal into coke for use as a fuel and additive in making steel. From a public standpoint, the program also was designed to dramatically reduce emissions from the plant, thereby improving air quality in the most polluted sector of Allegheny County.
From the start, it was a good news story -- and this month the news got better.
Due to construction plan changes outlined by a memo of understanding signed Aug. 17 by the county Health Department, the coke works revamp will cut small-particle soot emissions by an additional 320 tons a year over the amount stipulated in 2008. That's a 70 percent improvement over what was promised in the original plan, according to a health department spokesman.
U.S. Steel will accomplish this by building two additional low-emission quench towers and enhancing the pollution controls on Batteries 1, 2 and 3 instead of demolishing them. The changes should reduce emissions so that Allegheny County can meet federal air quality standards by December 2013 instead of August 2015, the date estimated in the 2008 agreement.
From the perspective of people living in Lincoln, Liberty, Glassport and Clairton, that's change for the better. While the Health Department cautions that much of the particulate pollution in the valley still comes from sources outside the county, these lower emissions from U.S. Steel are welcome and necessary for clean air.
First Published August 30, 2010 12:00 am
