Group Against Smog & Pollution

As we continue to advocate for a cleaner, safer Mon Valley, the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) is keeping a close eye on the fallout from the deadly August 2025 explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works . In case you missed it, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) published an interim report following that issued interim safety recommendations to the company. You can read the entire document here  (and we totally recommend that you do). F

Yinz smell that?! That tell-tale stench of rotten eggs? You’re not smelling things: Concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (or H2S for short) are sky-high in and around the Mon Valley today. And you’re not alone in your suffering - social media and Carnegie Mellon University’s Smell Pittsburgh app lit up with complaints starting overnight Monday and continuing into the afternoon Tuesday: For the uninitiated: H2S is a toxic gas that occurs both naturally (from sources such as sw

We find ourselves somewhat surprised to report that the federal government’s struggle against its own revised National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for coke ovens continues.  Quick background: The EPA promulgated the Revised Coke Oven NESHAPs in 2024.  Among other things, they required that coke oven operators monitor for benzene at their fencelines; imposed new limits on emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coke oven pushing, quenching, and battery s

Allegheny County Council on Tuesday approved air quality permit fee increases long sought by the Allegheny County Health Department.

The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) has submitted comments on Cleveland Cliffs’ Monessen Coke Works draft Title V Operating permit issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The facility is a conventional coke plant producing coke and related carbon by-products and is located in Monessen along the Monongahela River.  The Monessen Coke Works facility includes two coke batteries, by-products recovery process plant, boiler operations plant,

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a four-part series examining the years-long fight to get U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson facility in North Braddock in compliance with a host of air quality rules and regulations. In part one, GASP explored the spate of emissions violations and compliance struggles that led to a joint enforcement action from EPA and ACHD in 2017 and ultimately a controversial settlement decree.   Part one can be read here.   After YEARS of radio silence from ai

Image from 2023 Blast Furnace Casthouse Emissions Control System Evaluation Report When discussing major air polluters in Allegheny County, U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works (composed of the Clairton Coke Works, Irvin Works and Edgar Thomson facilities) is among the first to come to mind.   And for good reason: The Clairton Coke Works has been in the news for perennially polluting air in the Mon Valley and beyond for YEARS, with mounting enforcement actions issued by the Alleghe