Coke Oven Regulations 

The Clairton Plant operates 10 coke batteries and produces approximately 13,000 tons of coke per day from the destructive distillation of more than 18,000 tons of coal per day. This constant air pollution leads to respiratory illness, bad air quality days, and unknown long-term health effects.  

 

If you also care about U.S Steel Mon Valley Works' actions, a public hearing is tentatively scheduled to be held at 6:00 pm on May 11 at the Clairton Municipal Building, following VCAN’s rally at 5:30 pm. Valley Clean Air Now believes that ACHD should include the following actions in the new Coke Oven Regulations.

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We want to see the following changes;

•  ACHD should establish in the regulations that US Steel will no longer operate Batteries 1, 2, and 3 past March 31, 2023. US Steel has previously announced they will shut these 70-year-old batteries, however, ACHD should establish the closure in an enforceable way.

•  Increased transparency around the monitoring of Clairton Coke Works and the data from the plant.  ACHD needs real-time data on emissions from the plant that does not rely on US Steel management or staff.  The public should have access to all real-time data.

  • ACHD should ensure that violations should not be repeated in the future.

  • o   US Steel should not be allowed to produce coke from ovens/batteries that do not have functioning/reliable pollution control equipment. Ovens should be required to be hot idled until fixed.

•   If pollution control equipment is compromised or in inoperable condition, the plant should be required to be put on hot idle or other temporary halts in production. This will help prevent a repeat of the situation after the December 2018 fire at the Clairton Coke Works.

  •  Violations and fees should be non-negotiable.

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