U.S. Steel hit with $859K in fines by Allegheny County Health Department

U.S. Steel on Thursday was hit with more than $800,000 worth of fines by the Allegheny County Health Department for alleged pollution and permit violations at the Clairton Coke Works last year.

The health department said the violations happened during the second, third and fourth quarters of the year. U.S. Steel had already faced $201,500 in penalties for alleged violations in the first quarter of last year.

An agreement reached between the health department and U.S. Steel in 2019 said that 90% of the latest fines – $773,370 – will go to the Community Benefit Trust. The money in the trust is meant to go toward communities in the lower Mon Valley that are directly impacted by pollution from Clairton Coke Works.

The other 10% — $85,930 – will be paid to the Clean Air Fund.

U.S. Steel has paid millions in fines levied by the health department in recent years, including $201,500 in mid-2021; $361,400 in mid-2020; and $2.7 million in 2019 related to enforcement orders and appeals in early 2019 and 2018.

In a statement, U.S. Steel disputed the latest fines and said the health department violated its 2019 agreement with the company.

“ACHD, again, breached its obligations under the June 2019 agreement and is reluctant to conduct inspections in a fair, consistent, reliable and credible manner,” U.S. Steel said in the statement.

The company said it intends to seek dispute resolution in the matter.

The penalties came a day after the Pittsburgh arm of GASP — Group Against Smog and Pollution — issued a letter to the county Board of Health urging them to “(demand) more from ACHD.”

“Over the past two weeks, GASP has heard an overwhelming number of terrible air quality stories from residents,” GASP executive director Patrick Campbell said, noting that the group has encouraged residents to make complaints about air quality to the health department.

“The response to these complaints has been mostly silence from ACHD and this board,” Campbell said. “And that has to change.”

Campbell said the group is pushing the health department to issue its daily air-quality forecast report earlier in the day and to offer residents more information about what they can do to reduce their risk of exposure and when conditions might improve.