Public Records Request Provides New Details on Air Quality Impact of Clairton Coke Works Breakdown in June

In early June, Mon Valley residents were dealt three straight days of persistent rotten egg odor caused by elevated hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels - a stretch punctuated by a breakdown at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works facility that prompted a public statement from the Allegheny County Health Department and outcry from frontline residents.

At the time, details about the breakdown were preliminary: On the afternoon of June 2 an unknown breakdown occurred at Clairton Coke Works’ Control Room #5 that caused coke oven gas to only be partially cleaned before being emitted into the ambient air. ACHD said it was investigating both the incident and an associated spike in both H2S and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

But now, a public records request made by GASP has shed new light on the incident and its impact on our local air quality.

Namely, that during the nearly eight hours that Clairton Coke Works’ Control Room #5 was offline, the facility emitted a crazy amount of pollution. Here’s what U.S. Steel told ACHD in a follow-up breakdown report required to be submitted within seven days of a breakdown:

H2S grains were elevated in the coke oven gas during the bypass of No 5 Control Room. Approximately 8 tons of SO2 emissions from Clairton, Edgar Thomson, and Irvin were emitted until No 5 Control Room was fully brought back online.

That means U.S. Steel emitted more than 24-hours' worth of SO2 during that eight-hour breakdown - its Title V permit allows an average of 5.22 tons a day (or 1,907.33 tons annually).

A couple other things we wanted to flag…

What Should Have Happened After a U.S. Steel Breakdown

For both Clairton and Edgar Thomson, U.S. Steel must follow a strict procedure in the event of a breakdown of air pollution control equipment or other machinery that has a "substantial likelihood" of releasing illegal air contaminants or toxic materials.

When this happens, there are a couple of key actions U.S. Steel is required to take:

• They must notify ACHD immediately, and no later than 60 minutes after the breakdown.

• They must also provide a detailed written breakdown report to ACHD within seven days of the incident.

  
  

And that follow up report needs to include a spate of info, like:

• What piece of equipment broke down and its location 

• The nature and probable cause of the breakdown

• How long they expect the equipment to be out of service and how long emissions will continue.

• A list of the materials being released, including their quantity and details on their toxic qualities, like if they're an irritant or if they could cause illness

• The steps they're taking to fix the problem as quickly as possible

Finally, once the broken equipment is back up and running, U.S. Steel must let the ACHD know by 9 a.m. the next business day.

What Did Happen After the June 2 Clairton Coke Works Breakdown

The documents GASP obtained through the state Right to Know process show that U.S. Steel met the deadlines set forth for reporting the June 2 Clairton Coke Works breakdown.

U.S. Steel called ACHD’s after-hours answering service to report the incident within the required 60 minutes. Company representatives appear to also have met the deadline to submit an initial written breakdown report to ACHD. Here’s what was sent the morning of June 3:

U.S. Steel also submitted the written follow-up report within the required seven days:

However, we want to flag that while the reports were submitted on time, they lacked required details related to how the breakdown would impact ambient air - as well as the irritating effects of the air pollutants being emitted.

“As usual, U.S. Steel pretty much ignored that part of the question - something that seems to be on brand for the company,” GASP communications manager Amanda Gillooly said. “If you look back at previous breakdown reports you will see U.S. Steel’s breakdown reports are notoriously light on those types of details. Imagine that.”

ACHD’s Internal & External Response: A Timeline

According to internal emails, ACHD staff became aware of the breakdown at the Clairton Coke Works at 8:30 a.m., when an air quality secretary forwarded U.S. Steel’s initial breakdown report information to department leadership.

By 9:43 a.m., ACHD Deputy Director of Environmental Health Geoff Rabinowitz sent an email to staff asking for more information on the breakdown and how it might be related to an outage at ACHD’s Liberty monitor:

ACHD Air Quality Manager David Good responded immediately, saying in an email that he, “provided all of the information I currently have on the matter as it relates to monitoring in an email earlier.” Unfortunately, that email was not made public by ACHD (more on that in just a bit).

Then, at 9:56 a.m., ACHD Enforcement and Compliance Manager Allason Holt responded with this high-level overview of what was currently known about the Clairton Coke Works incident:

Then, at 1:52 p.m., an ACHD air quality engineer sent an email to U.S. Steel requesting answers to a set of follow-up questions. U.S. Steel responded to those questions in a 3:02 p.m. email, which you can read here. Note that ACHD’s questions are in black text and U.S. Steel’s responses are in red.

At 4:40 p.m., ACHD Public Information Officer Ronnie Das sent an internal email indicating that a press release on the matter had been issued:

“Our public records request gives a tiny behind-the-scenes glimpse into how our local air quality regulator responds internally to an industrial breakdown at a local Title V facility,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “For years, we have been asking ACHD and county leaders to be more transparent and responsive when these types of incidents occur and we hope the department continues to do as much as it can to rebuild trust in frontline communities through prompt communication and even more transparency in the future.”

A Word About What Records ACHD Withheld

For the uninitiated: Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law allows agencies to withhold certain kinds of documents. We wanted to let you know that GASP’s request for documents related to the June 2 incident at Clairton Coke Works was approved in part and denied in part - which means that some documents within the scope of the request were withheld and that some were exempt.

ACHD's final determination letter noted that:

Information that involves a non-criminal investigation, namely complaint information and investigative material, notes, correspondence and reports. Such information is exempt from disclosure under Section 708 (b) (17) (i) and (ii) of the RTKL.

It begs the question: Could there be an enforcement action in the works related to the June 2 breakdown?

GASP continues to follow this and all U.S. Steel enforcement and compliance issues closely - we will keep you posted as more information becomes available.