In the wake of the Dec. 24 fire that severely damaged the coke gas pollution controls at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke works, Colette Williams said her 13-year-old son is hurting.
“He has chronic asthma and in the last week of December he started having problems,” Ms. Williams said. “He couldn’t breathe, he was tired and wasn’t able to come out of the house because of the air quality. That coke plant might not be the total problem, but with what’s happening there, it’s not helping any.”
Ms. Williams was one of several dozen Mon Valley residents who joined environmental activists and several elected officials at a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Clairton to criticize the county’s and the company’s handling of the fire and its aftermath. They also called attention to what they say are systematic problems in how the plant’s pollution is policed and the health of Mon Valley residents is protected.
The Allegheny County Health Department posted a short notice about the fire on its Facebook page the day after it occurred. But it didn’t mention it again until Jan. 9 when it announced that sulfur dioxide levels had spiked above the federal health standard six times since the fire and issued an advisory to 22 Mon Valley communities urging residents with respiratory and heart conditions, the elderly and children to limit outdoor activity.
Health department monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide levels haven’t exceeded the federal standard since Jan. 8, when it happened twice, but the advisory remains in effect.
Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, a coalition of 24 environmental organizations, said the flaring of raw coke oven gas and the continuing operation of the coke production facility without use of the plant’s damaged pollution controls is illegal under terms of its federal permit.
He urged the health department to order the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker to put the plant on “hot idle,” which would keep the coke ovens heated and operational but suspend coke production until the pollution control equipment is operational. The company said the pollution controls could be fixed as early as May 15.
“We need to stand up when our health is sold off for corporate profits,” Mr. Mehalik said. “We need to stop treating this as an isolated situation rather than a systematic problem.”
Meghan Cox, a U.S. Steel spokeswoman, issued a statement that said putting the coke works in hot idle is a lengthy process that would have taken company resources away from fixing the fire damage and created additional environmental and economic impacts.
She said the long-term impacts of a hot idle at Clairton “could mean the permanent closure of some of the impacted batteries, and other batteries would sustain damage that would impact the facility’s operation for several years.
“Such a hot idle action would likely have an adverse impact on the operating levels of all of our Mon Valley facilities and could result in workforce reductions,” she said.
The coke plant, located about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, has a history of air pollution problems and has paid fines totaling more than $4 million under terms of enforcement actions in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016.
State Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, said at the news conference that any other business would have been shut down years ago.
“That the health department is letting the company continue to operate is telling us that the business is more important than your health,” Ms. Lee said. “Well, jobs are important, But this is not a question of wealth or health, and this is not something that should be allowed to happen any longer.”
In June 2018, the health department fined the company $1 million and said it would order the idling of two coke batteries if emissions aren’t reduced. The plant was fined another $620,000 in October for declining compliance with county emissions rules at Clairton.
The company is appealing both 2018 orders, said health department director Karen Hacker.
"Our hope is not only will they not succeed in their appeal, but that they will in fact improve [air pollution] over the course of the two consecutive quarters that we've asked them to do it, which would then mean we would not have to put those batteries into hot idle," Dr. Hacker said. "I think what that speaks to is the fact that we absolutely will use that as a particular tool should it be necessary."
Also at the Clairton news conference was Chelsa Wagner, the Allegheny County controller, who has family living in several Mon Valley communities. She criticized county officials for failing to keep people informed of the health risks in the weeks following the fire.
“Asthma is a very serious health concern, and to hear about children who can’t breathe the air here indicates a total failure of county government and a failure of the elected leadership of the county — the county executive, who hasn’t said a single word about it.”
Ms. Wagner said the health department needs to do a better job of enforcing environmental regulations and penalizing violations.
“It’s time for the people of the county to be our priority,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to fight for clean air. It should be a given.”
The Allegheny County Health Department and U.S. Steel announced Tuesday that they will put additional sulfur dioxide monitors in the area.
One will be placed and activated near the coke works in Clairton later this week, and a second will be sited near U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works, where coke oven gas is being flared.
U.S. Steel is paying for the monitors and the data collected will be added to daily public reports available on the Health Department website and Facebook page.
The health department also has asked the steelmaker to “ provide updates to the public regarding its mitigation strategies and a timeline for repairs.” U.S. Steel has responded by establishing a website for that purpose at: http://www.clairton.uss.com.
The company is also partnering with Highmark Health to provide Clairton and Mon Valley residents with convenient access to health care screenings should anyone have respiratory issues.
Residents can call 412-DOCTORS and let the operator know they are from the Clairton area and have a new respiratory issue.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1983, or on Twitter @donhopey. Andrew Goldstein, agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352, contributed to this report.
First Published: January 24, 2019, 2:10 a.m.
