The high-profile, multi-billion-dollar takeover of U.S. Steel by Japanese-based Nippon has been finalized, the companies announced Wednesday. GASP staff is reviewing available details.  But here’s what we know right now via a U.S. Steel press release: Under the NSA, the U.S. Government and the Companies have agreed to measures to protect U.S. national security, including, among others, the following commitments by the Companies: Investment  - Nippon Steel will make approximately $11 billion in new investments in U. S. Steel by 2028, which includes an initial investment in a greenfield project that will be completed after 2028; U.S. Headquarters  - U. S. Steel will remain a U.S.-incorporated entity and will maintain its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; U.S. Board  - A majority of the members of U. S. Steel’s board of directors will be U.S. citizens; U.S. Management  - U. S. Steel’s key management personnel, including its CEO, will be U.S. citizens; U.S. Production  - U. S. Steel will maintain capacity to produce and supply steel from its U.S. production locations to meet market demand in the U.S.; and U. S. Steel Autonomous Trade  - Nippon Steel will not prevent, prohibit, or otherwise interfere with U. S. Steel’s ability to pursue trade action under U.S. law Pursuant to the NSA and through the ownership of the Golden Share, the U.S. Government will have certain rights, including, among others: The right to appoint one independent director; and Consent rights of the President of the United States, or his designee, on specific matters, including: Reductions in the committed capital investments under the NSA; Changing U. S. Steel’s name and headquarters; Redomiciling U. S. Steel outside of the United States; Transfer of production or jobs outside of the United States; Material acquisitions of competing businesses in the United States; and Certain decisions on closure or idling of U. S. Steel’s existing U.S. manufacturing facilities, trade, labor, and sourcing outside of the United States. \ Here's media coverage of the deal: U.S. Steel, Nippon finalize $14.9B merger, security agreement | TribLIVE.com Done Deal: The Sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel is Complete  | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Nippon Steel finalizes $15B takeover of US Steel after sealing security agreement - ABC News Nippon Steel's purchase of U.S. Steel closes, with big role for Trump | Reuters Nippon Steel Closes Its $14.1 Billion Acquisition of US Steel (X) - Bloomberg

At GASP we don’t just monitor air quality issues and push back against industrial polluters’ illegal emissions – we also try to hold air quality regulators accountable for doing their jobs and fulfilling the duties that air pollution laws impose on them.   This includes tracking how efficiently Pennsylvania regulators – specifically, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – process permit applications for sources of air pollution (more on the significance of those permits below).    Since 2018 we’ve reported on the backlogs that exist at ACHD as well as DEP’s six regional offices for processing applications for Title V Operating Permits - permits the Clean Air Act requires the largest sources of air pollution to obtain.    “The backlogs have indeed improved over the years,” said GASP Senior Attorney John Baillie said. “Unfortunately, there are still trouble spots.”   In short: The backlog of permit applications at DEP’s Northwest Regional Office has grown over the last couple of years, while the backlogs of applications at ACHD and DEP’s Northeast Regional Office unfortunately increased this year following several years of improvement.   Here’s what our review turned up this year and what you need to know about those permits.   Title V Operating Permits: What They Are, Who Needs Them & How They’re Issued   Operating permits for major sources of air pollution are required by Title V of the Clean Air Act and are commonly called Title V Operating Permits. A Title V Operating Permit for a particular facility must contain all operating requirements that air pollution laws impose on the facility.   This helps facilitate compliance with those requirements. Why? Because both regulators and the public can use a facility’s Title V Operating Permit to determine what requirements it has and whether the facility is complying with them.   A major source must apply for a Title V Operating Permit once it begins normal operations, and the permitting authority gives it notice that it must submit a permit application. A Title V Operating Permit is good for five years, and sources must apply to renew their Title V Operating Permits before their old ones expire.   The Clean Air Act, as well as Pennsylvania’s and Allegheny County’s air pollution control regulations, all require that the agency responsible for issuing Title V Operating Permits finish its review of any complete permit application within 18 months.    Notably, the Clean Air Act allows a source that has submitted a complete application for a Title V Operating Permit to continue to do business pending the responsible agency’s final approval of the application - even if agency approval takes years.   The Clean Air Act also requires the operations of the state and local programs that administer Title V Operating Permits be funded entirely from the emissions and permit fees paid by the sources  subject to the requirements of Title V.   About Our Investigative Report… We first blogged about the backlogs of applications for new and renewed operating permits for major sources of air pollution that existed in DEP’s Southwest Regional Office and in Allegheny County (where Title V sources are regulated by ACHD) in September 2016.     In April 2018, we updated that research and expanded it to include sources permitted by DEP’s other five regional offices. We have updated that  research every year since.  About the Backlog at the Allegheny County Health Department   There are now 26 major sources operating in Allegheny County.    One of those facilities has applied for, but has never been issued, a Title V Operating Permit – ATI Flat-Rolled Products (which was formerly known as Allegheny Ludlum Brackenridge Works) - although ACHD did  published a draft permit for the facility last fall.    ACHD has failed to act on renewal applications for seven of the 26 major sources in Allegheny County within 18 months  as its regulations require: About the Backlog at DEP’s Southwest Regional Office   For purposes of air quality permitting, DEP’s Southwest Regional Office includes sources in Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.    Responsibility for administering the Title V permitting program for sources in Armstrong and Indiana Counties was transferred to DEP’s Northwest Regional Office in early 2019.  We currently count 54 major sources under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Regional Office. There are a lot of different things going on with the permitting of major sources in the Southwest Region.   Three major sources in the Southwest Region do not have Title V Operating Permits in place but have applied for such permits within the last 18 months:    the Brunner Landfill in Beaver County (which has had issues with its air pollution permits , and has never had a Title V Operating Permit) Hunter Panels in Fayette County (which was once permitted as a major source, was reclassified as a minor source, and then recently reclassified back to a major source), and Hill Top Energy Center in Greene County (which is newly constructed)   Here’s what’s going on with the other facilities:   Holcim Solutions in Westmoreland County, was (like Hunter Panels) recently reclassified as a major source but has not yet submitted an application for a Title V Operating Permit;   The Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station in Westmoreland County, has been constructed and has operated for many years under it preconstruction permit, but has not yet applied for a Title V Operating Permit;  Markwest Liberty Midstream & Resource’s Houston Gas Plant has had applications pending at one time or another for both a minor source operating permit and a Title V Operating Permit. The facility appears to have neither an operating permit (of any kind) currently in place nor an application for such a permit currently pending. At least from the information available on DEP’s eFACTS website, it not clear whether DEP has classified this source as a major source subject to Title V or a minor source.   Despite all of that, only one major source in the Southwest Region has had an application for its Title V Operating Permit pending for more than the 18 months allowed by the Clean Air Act:   About the Backlog at DEP’s Northwest Regional Office DEP’s Northwest Region includes Armstrong and Indiana Counties for Title V permitting purposes, as well as Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, and Venango Counties.    We count 63 active major sources of air pollution in the Northwest Region.    Two of those sources – Hickory Run Energy in North Beaver Township, Lawrence County and the Tri-County Landfill near Grove City, Mercer County – are new, and either still have an application for an initial Title V Operating Permit still pending (Hickory Run Energy) or are still operating under a Plan Approval from DEP and have not yet applied for a Title V Operating Permit (Tri-County Landfill).    Another facility, Webco Industries in Oil City, Venango County, was newly reclassified as a major source and still has its application for its first Title V Operating Permit pending.    Including Hickory Run Energy and Webco Industries, eight of the 68 facilities in the Northwest Region have had renewal applications for their Title V Operating Permit pending for more than 18 months:   About the Backlog at DEP’s Northcentral Regional Office   DEP’s Northcentral Region includes Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, and Union Counties.  We counted 49 major sources of air pollution in the Northcentral Region.  One facility in the Northcentral Region has had an application to renew its Title V Operating Permit pending for more than 18 months:   About the Backlog at DEP’s Southcentral Regional Office   DEP’s Southcentral Region includes Adams, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntington, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, and York counties.    We counted 95 active major sources of air pollution in these counties.    Only one source in the Southcentral Region has had a renewal application for a Title V Operating Permit pending for more than 18 months: About the Backlog at DEP’s Northeast Regional Office DEP’s Northeast Region includes Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming Counties.    We have counted 53 major active sources of air pollution in those counties, five of which have had applications to renew their Title V Operating Permits pending for more than 18 months: Worth noting: DEP’s eFACTS website (which tracks the status of facility permits) does not show that the Chrinergy Power facility has an application to renew its operating permit pending as of June 9; a source violates the air pollution laws if it continues to operate without submitting a timely application to renew or replace its operating permit. The facility does, however, have a plan approval from DEP in place and could be operating legally pursuant to that.   About the Backlog at DEP’s Southeast Regional Office   DEP’s Southeast Region includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties for purposes of permitting sources of air pollution (Philadelphia’s Air Management Services administers the Title V permitting program for facilities located in Philadelphia).    We counted 71 active major sources of air pollution in the Southeast Region, two of which have had renewal applications for Title V Operating Permits pending for more than 18 months: To help better illustrate the trends, we created this visual of what the permit backlogs at ACHD and DEP’s regional offices have looked like since 2018:                 The Bottom Line   "The permit backlogs at ACHD, the Northwest Regional Office, and the Northeast Regional Office should spur the people at those offices to take a look at what they can do to process permit applications in a timelier manner," Baillie said. "Title V Operating Permits are a valuable tool for assuring compliance with Clean Air Act requirements — having up-to-date permits available helps to provide the public with cleaner air to breathe as the law guarantees."

Editor’s Note: The Allegheny County Health Department periodically updates its website to include documents related to air quality enforcement actions. As part of our watchdog work, GASP monitors this webpage and reports on the air quality violations posted there. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has taken enforcement action against two companies for asbestos abatement-related violations and a resident for open burning infractions. While many people think asbestos is a thing of the past, it’s still very much a public health issue here in Allegheny County. Exposure to airborne asbestos fibers can cause serious health issues including asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and pleural disease. And there is no safe minimum level of exposure to asbestos. An estimated 10,000 cases of asbestos-related disease occur each year in the U.S. as a result of past exposures. ACHD on April 25 issued an $8,000 penalty to Grandview South Homes, Mistick Construction Company, Hilltop Alliance, and Gatesburg Road Development for failing to provide notification of the state of demolition activities at The Grandview South Homes Project. By way of background: The Grandview South Homes Project is a publicly funded, urban renewal project involving the demolition of eight structures in the Allentown neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The demolition activity for this urban renewal project requires notification 10 days prior to the start of demolition activities.  We want to note that this is not the first time that Mistick Construction appeared on the ACHD enforcement docket. ACHD also took asbestos-related enforcement action against the company in 2022 . The company was also issued a warning of violation letter that year. You can read the entire enforcement document here. The enforcement action has been appealed. You can read t he appeal document here. The department on May 23 suspended the asbestos abatement license for Green Development after its manager Naydia Green reportedly submitted false information to ACHD through an asbestos abatement permit application and demolition notice for a publicly funded project in Wilkinsburg.  According to the enforcement document: The false or inaccurate information included work practices listed in the application were not being utilized and that air monitoring was to take place and there was no air monitoring occurring.  The municipally funded demolition activity at 1402 Hill Avenue requires notification ten days prior to the start of demolition activities. Green Development failed to notify ACHD of demolition activity 10 days prior to the start of work for the structure at 1402 Hill Street.  To have its asbestos abatement contractor license reinstated, Green Development must submit a compliance plan “describing how they will correct all compliance issues and demonstrate an ability and willingness to comply with all Article XXI Requirements and to not submit false information to ACHD.” You can read the entire enforcement document here. ACHD also took enforcement action against William Lysaght of South Park, who the department said was burning wooden furniture at his residence. ACHD issued a $935 civil penalty in the wake of repeated open burning complaints from neighbors. For the uninitiated: No material other than untreated clean wood, propane, or natural gas may be burned per ACHD open burning regs. You can read the entire enforcement document here.

Editor’s Note: The Allegheny County Health Department periodically updates its website to include documents related to air quality enforcement actions. As part of our watchdog work, GASP monitors this webpage and reports on the air quality violations posted there. Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) recently issued fines against two Neville Island facilities for air quality violations - Lindy Paving and INEOS. ACHD on April 25 slapped INEOS Composites with a $17,825 fine for three violations that occurred in 2024: Exceeding the short-term emissions limit for carbon monoxide during compliance testing of the facility’s thermal oxidizer  Exceeding the hourly emissions limit for particulate matter (PM10) during that compliance testing. Continuing to operate the thermal oxidizer when it was out of compliance. For the uninitiated: INEOS manufactures and sells polyester and vinyl ester resins, gelcoats and low-profile additives for the plastics industry. You can read the entire enforcement order here. ACHD on April 25 also fined Lindy Paving $1,500 for failing to report a breakdown that occured at the company’s Neville Island facility on Aug. 8, 2024, that resulted in excess emissions. According to the enforcement order, Lindy did not provide ACHD with an initial breakdown report within 60 minutes, as required by its operating permit. The company also failed to provide a written follow-up report to the department within seven days as required by its permit. In fact, Lindy did not provide further information on the incident to ACHD until Oct. 3, 2024. You can read the entire enforcement order here. For folks unfamiliar with Lindy Paving: The company produces asphalt and concrete for the paving industry. It was unclear why there was such a long gap between when the violation occurred and when the enforcement actions were issued. Stay tuned. GASP continues to follow these enforcement issues closely and will keep you posted.

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has issued $918,000 in new penalties against U.S. Steel for air quality violations at its Clairton Coke Works facility. The June 6 enforcement order shows that between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024, there were a total of 167 uncontrolled pushes at the Clairton facility at Batteries B, 13, 14, 15, 19, and 20. Some necessary background: Pushing is generally the operation by which coke that has completed the coking cycle is mechanically pushed from a coke oven into a traveling car and transported to a quench station where the coke is cooled with water.  During normal operation of the coke oven batteries 13, 14, 15, 19 and 20 at the Clairton Coke Plant, a fume collection hood is moved into place above the hot car outside the door of a coke oven at the completion of the coking cycle for that oven. B Battery is equipped with a shed enclosure that captures pushing emissions. The door on the side of the oven where the hot car is located is then removed prior to pushing coke from the oven.  Pushing emissions from the traveling hood or shed are vented to the battery’s baghouses. Emissions occur during the pushing operation from activities such as the physical movement of the coke mass from the oven, dropping of coke into the hot car, or partial combustion of coke due to the high temperature of the coke contacting ambient air.  So, that’s what should have happened. Here’s what happened at Clairton, according to the enforcement order: The Clairton Coke Plant has experienced process and equipment failures, which resulted in the traveling hood not being properly positioned above the hot car, a loss of suction to the baghouse, baghouse outage or other issues causing emissions not to be captured during the push. The pushing of coke from an oven without first capturing and ducting the emissions to a fully operational PEC baghouse is known as an “uncontrolled push.”  And it isn’t the first time the company has been fined for these types of violations. In 2022, ACHD issued a $4.6 million fine for 831 uncontrolled pushes at the Clairton facility. “This is more of the same from one of Allegheny County’s most prolific polluters,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “Despite settlement agreements and promised upgrades to the Clairton Coke Works, the company continues to violate the terms of its permits and impact the health and quality of life for its neighbors.”

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Monday made public its finalized settlement agreement with U.S. Steel, giving residents the first look at details of an associated $2.46 million community trust. The nine-page document, dated Jan. 30, clarifies several details related to the trust, the communities it benefits, who will serve on a board overseeing it, and how meetings will be conducted and projects selected for funding. GASP in July submitted formal comments regarding the settlement agreement, suggesting specifically that the health department put the details related to the trust out for public comment. In a comment response document released Monday, the health department responded to that request, saying only: “Putting up the trust form to public comment is neither legally necessary nor efficient.” GASP also offered comments suggesting that the agreement specify who would administer the trust and advocated for the trust board to include a representative from each of the adjacent communities. While these details were not included in the original draft, they were incorporated into the final agreement. Now that the details of the trust have been made public, here are some key takeaways: The communities that will benefit from the trust include Clairton, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, and Port Vue . Each of these communities will have a separate fund established. The U.S. Steel Community Benefit Trust funds will be allocated to the communities based on a methodology that takes into consideration population and area measured in square miles. Using that methodology, it was determined that Clairton will receive 26.7 percent of the funds, Lincoln will receive 21.9 percent, Glassport will receive $19.9 percent, Portvu will receive 16.3 percent, and Liberty will receive 15.1 percent. The U.S. Steel Community Benefit Trust will be governed by a board composed of one resident from each of the five communities “chosen by the respective adjacent communities in whatever manner they choose.” Each community will also select an alternate and ad hoc member to attend a meeting in instances where the primary member cannot. The board will meet in private, at a regular place and time at least once every six months. The agreement stipulates that these meetings must be listed on the official websites of each of the five communities at least 60 days in advance. The purpose of these meetings is to consider and approve projects for funding. To be considered, a project must be “anticipated to improve, protect, or reduce the risk to public health or the environment” and submitted to the board at least 30 days before a meeting. The money can go toward physical infrastructure improvements such as the construction of a playground or the renovation of green space. Projects that foster the “creation or expansion of programs that are aimed at directly improving the well-being of residents” will also be considered. Please note: While the settlement agreement addressed ongoing emissions problems at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, the associated supplemental environmental projects do not need to be related to air quality. At these meetings, majority rules. If for any reason a representative from one of the five communities is not available to attend and vote it will be “deemed an affirmative vote in favor of any matter before the trust distribution board for a vote at such a meeting.” The agreement also indicates that if the board votes to reject a project, “reasonable detail of the reasons” will be provided. Once a project is approved, the distribution of funds will occur within 30 days. Updates about the progress of each project will be provided at each subsequent meeting. The agreement also includes language that gives the board the authority to terminate funding of projects “that have been improperly administered.” Smithfield Trust Co. will be paid $3,000 per quarter to administer the fund. Semi-annual reports detailing receipts and disbursements will be submitted to each of the respective communities, which must post them to their official websites within 60 days of receipt. Copies of these reports, to be submitted on Jan. 31 and July 31 annually, will also be sent to the Allegheny County Health Department and U.S. Steel. “Given the establishment of this community benefit trust was a brand-new way of supporting the communities most impacted by air pollution from the Clairton Coke Works, it would have behooved the health department to put the specific details related to it out for public comment,” said Rachel Filippini, Executive Director of GASP.  “The establishment of this trust is significant for the community, and we wanted to be sure they got it right.”

Friends, it’s been a week. Regionally, we’ve dealt with Canadian wildfire smoke impacts, and the Mon Valley has suffered through five straight days of stench and crazy elevated hydrogen sulfide concentrations. Then on Tuesday came the big news: There was a breakdown at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works facility Monday evening that knocked out pollution control equipment that removes dangerous chemicals like H2S and ammonia from coke oven gas. Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) sent out a news release Tuesday afternoon announcing the incident. You can read more about that here. But we wanted to flag five things we think you need to know about the incident. The incident took place around 7 p.m. in Control Room 5, which was shut down for repairs through 3:05 a.m. That means that only partially cleaned coke oven gas spewed from the facility for eight hours. During this incident, there was a “significant” spike in H2S. How significant? Consider this: The highest hourly H2S concentrations measured at ACHD’s Liberty air quality monitor happened at 9 p.m. Monday at 32 ppb (that’s parts per billion). Usually, people can smell H2S (that rotten egg odor) at 5 ppb (which is also the 24-hour average limit in PA). The health department indicated that Allegheny County is “normally below 1 ppb.”  There were also spiking levels of sulfur dioxide during the breakdown. According to ACHD data, the highest hourly SO2 concentration during the breakdown was 47 ppb at 10 p.m. Monday. As a comparison, SO2 was at just 1 ppb at the same monitoring location at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Control Room 5 was also one of three at the Clairton Coke Works that experienced an outage during the July 4, 2022 , breakdown as well as the high-profile Christmas Eve fire in 2018. Electrical issues were at the root of those breakdowns. ACHD’s news release indicated that U.S. Steel submitted an initial breakdown report, but did not note whether it was received within the one-hour window required by Clairton Coke Works’ Title V permit. The company has seven days from the date of the incident to submit a follow up report to ACHD. GASP staff continues to follow these issues closely. We plan to submit a public records request to get further details on what happened, when they happened, and whether or not U.S. Steel followed protocol. Stay tuned.

Allegheny County Council met again this week, and AGAIN, the air quality permit fee schedule changes long sought by the health department were not among the action items on the agenda. This lack of action comes in the wake of months of pressure from environmental advocates, residents and even public officials. And it’s absolutely outrageous. GASP submitted written comments to council in advance of its Tuesday meeting that you can read here. For those just tuning in: ACHD has been delegated the authority to enforce both federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the control of air pollution in Allegheny County and the federal Clean Air Act requires that ACHD have adequate funding and personnel to carry out that authority. The Clean Air Act also requires that ACHD’s program for Title V facilities charge fees that are sufficient to cover the cost of administering the program. Since it has become clear funding ACHD receives from the county and commonwealth are also insufficient to cover the cost of administering the non-Title V side of ACHD’s Air Quality Program, it is entirely appropriate that the polluting facilities that require time and resources from the Air Quality Program pay fees that cover the cost of that time and those resources. County should not be subsidizing the costs of doing business in Allegheny County for industry. And right now, that’s what’s going on.  It’s wild that certain members of council have made this in any way a controversial vote. Because it isn’t dramatic. The fees aren’t a tax. They aren’t punitive. There’s nothing to negotiate. The new fees are based on actual costs. It’s simple budgeting, people. We know we’ve been asking yinz for MONTHS to reach out to your reps and urge them to vote YES and we thank you so much for your action and your passion. Unfortunately, we need to ask for your help one more time. As a reminder, we need 10 county council members to vote yes for this thing to pass. Right now, it is out understanding that these three members are on the fence and could use some more encouragement from us all to vote YES: President Pat Catena    Robert Palmosina   Jordan Botta  (newly appointed to replace outgoing councilman David Bonorati. The ask?  Get the air quality permit fee schedule changes on the agenda at your next meeting and then get it on the table for a real, substantive discussion and possible vote. This has been on council’s plate for months, the changes have been affirmatively recommended at every point in the approval process, and to stop hiding behind procedure and do their jobs.

Editor’s Note: The Allegheny County Health Department periodically updates its website to include documents related to air quality enforcement actions. As part of our watchdog work, GASP monitors this webpage, and reports on the air quality violations posted there.  The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) in April issued U.S. Steel a demand for stipulated penalties in the amount of $216,325 for air quality violations that occurred at the Clairton Coke Works between Oct. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2023. While the demand was dated April 18, it was only recently posted to the ACHD enforcement docket. The demand letter details the various types of violations and includes myriad charts and graphs - you can check it out here. “It’s disturbing to see how U.S. Steel’s compliance has plummeted - especially when it comes to leaking coke oven doors,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “And despite all its talk and TV and radio ads hailing itself as a good neighbor, they are still racking up penalties related to hydrogen sulfide, which has been not only a quality of life matter but a public health matter than needs to be addressed ASAP.” Per the terms of a 2019 settlement agreement between ACHD and the company, 90 percent of the fine ($194,692.50) will go to a Community Benefit Trust that you can read more about here. The remaining 10 percent ($21,632) will go to ACHD as a civil penalty. However, the demand letter also included this verbiage: The Department and U.S. Steel are in negations of previous demands and will address any remaining settlement credits through the dispute resolution process or future demands. GASP continues to follow U.S. Steel enforcement issues closely and will keep you posted as more information becomes available.

The Allegheny County Health Department is investigating a breakdown at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works facility last night, as well as elevated concentrations of both hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (S02) at its Liberty air quality monitor, according to a press release issued Tuesday. Here is the statement: Statement from ACHD on US Steel's Clairton Coke Works Breakdown PITTSBURGH – Last evening there was an issue at the Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, according to breakdown reports submitted to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) by US Steel. The reports indicate there was elevated sulfur levels in coke oven gas while repairs took place within a control room. The incident occurred on June 2nd at 7:08 pm and it was reported that all equipment was back online on June 3rd at 3:05 am. The preliminary report says during the breakdown, control room five was shut down and bypassed meaning that Coke oven gas was only partially treated by control rooms one and two. As a result, the gas produced during coke-making - called coke oven gas - was only partly cleaned by the remaining control systems. Control room five removes harmful chemicals like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from the gas. U.S. Steel has seven days to submit a full report explaining what happened. During the breakdown a significant spike of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide were measured at the ACHD Liberty Monitor.  The highest hourly H2S concentration measured at the ACHD Liberty Monitor occurred on June 2nd at 9:00 PM at 32 ppb. For H2S, the ability to smell it and the state regulatory level is 5 ppb. Allegheny County is normally below 1 ppb, see Hydrogen Sulfide - Allegheny County, PA. The highest hourly sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentration during the breakdown was 47 ppb on June 2nd at 10:00 pm. As a comparison, SO2 was at 1 ppb at the same location at 1:00 pm today. The Allegheny County Health Department is at Clairton for a pre-planned stack test today and is gathering additional information on the breakdown as well. For more information regarding issues within the Clairton Coke Works facility reach out to US Steel. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) will continue to investigate the breakdown. ### Some needed context: This was the third straight day that H2S exceeded the state limit. And for those asking, “Yeah, but where is the H2S coming from exactly.”... According to a 2022 31-page study  conducted by the Allegheny County Health Department, several years’ worth of H2S exceedances in the Mon Valley “can be attributed entirely to emissions from U.S. Steel’s Clairton coking facility.”     Despite U.S. Steel scapegoating landfill facilities, we want to point out that the study also stated: “ACHD did not identify evidence of any other source contributing to the exceedances.” “Residents deserve to know why these air pollution events keep happening and more importantly what concrete steps are being taken to address this serious public health issue,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. GASP thanks the department for its transparency and public facing communication on this and hope to see that trend continue. We continue to follow the issue closely and will update this blog as new details become available. Editor's Note: Wanna better understand our H2S issue? Here's an explainer that our team put together.