Steelmaking

Introduction

Air pollution from major industries impacts the health of southwest Pennsylvania residents, especially those in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. The Council uses a combination of public education, community advocacy, and legal action to reduce harmful industrial air pollution from highly-polluting steelmaking facilities.

The Problem

Major sources of air pollution still remain in Allegheny County as a legacy of its industrialized past. Enormous steel factories and supporting industrial plants existed all over the county. Over the years, many of the plants shut down. The Shenango Coke Works, once a significant polluter, was the latest to close when it ceased operations in 2016. However, a number of facilities related to the steelmaking industry remain in operation in Allegheny County today.

Within Allegheny County, a region called the Monongahela Valley (Mon Valley) was formerly the steel capital of the world. This region, just outside of Pittsburgh, has produced massive quantities of steel over generations. Unfortunately, along with steel production came large quantities of air pollution. Today, much of the prosperity from the industry has dwindled and moved on, but the industry and the pollution that comes with it still remain. Three facilities remain operational: the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, the Clairton Coke Works, and the Irwin Plant. Together, they make up the Mon Valley Works. These facilities emit harmful air pollutants including fine particulates (PM), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3), and benzene.

Because of these facilities, the region has long suffered from high levels of fine particulates in the air. Pollution in the Mon Valley is exacerbated by weather inversions that trap emissions in the valley and cause them to become more concentrated closer to where people breathe. The constant pollution from the operation of the U.S. Steel facilities combined with regular weather inversions leads to bad air quality that negatively impacts the health of nearby residents. The Clairton Coke Works (in Clairton) and the Edgar Thomson plant (in Braddock) are both located in communities of color.

The Solution

We should strive to greatly reduce or eliminate single-use plastic products like bottled water and plastic grocery bags from our everyday lives, figure out better ways to reuse and recycle much more plastic, and promote the development and manufacturing of non-fossil fuel-based plastics for other products. At the same time, we must ensure that current petrochemical plants are abiding by the law and not polluting more than they are allowed to.

Current campaigns 

• Valley Clean Air Now (VCAN): The Council partners with Clean Water Action, One Pennsylvania, and ROCIS in supporting VCAN, a community group that works to improve the health of Monongahela Valley residents by addressing air pollution from the Clairton Coke Works facility. VCAN is working on mitigating the short-term impact of air pollution on the health of residents while building the grassroots power necessary to address the root causes of local air pollution. VCAN is based in the communities of Clairton, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln and Port Vue. 
  
• Coke Oven Regulations: The Council is currently engaging residents of Allegheny County, including those in Clairton, to persuade the Allegheny County Health Department to develop new regulations to reduce air pollution from coke ovens such as Clairton Coke Works. The Council is asking for regulations to require more stringent practices in operating the Clairton Coke Works that would drastically reduce emissions of harmful pollutants. 
  
• Southwest Pennsylvania Neighbors for Clean Air (SWPA Neighbors): The Council organizes community reading and action groups around Southwest Pennsylvania. These groups engage new residents in the region to learn about and take action to address major sources of air pollution in the region including steel making facilities, fracking operations, pipelines, and  petrochemical plants.
  
• Regulatory agency watchdogging: The Council closely tracks the air quality regulatory process of the Allegheny County Health Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. This includes emissions permits that are issued and pollution mitigation plans that are legally required.
  
• Legal action: In April 2019, PennEnvironment and the Council filed a lawsuit against U.S. Steel for violations of the Clean Air Act at its three Pittsburgh-area plants, including Clairton Coke Works, the largest coke oven facility in North America. In late 2018 and early 2019, U.S. Steel ran its plants for more than three months without critical pollution control equipment, which unlawfully exposed residents to very high levels of pollution. The Council and its partner are seeking an order requiring U.S. Steel to comply with its air permits, make changes to prevent this situation from happening again, remediate the harm it has caused to local communities, and pay large fines that would punish the company for past violations and deter future violations.

Take Action

Contact your Allegheny County Council representatives and the Allegheny County Health Department to ask them to reduce harmful pollution from large steelmaking facilities