Neighbor News
ACHD Announces New Fines Against U.S. Steel Total $743K
The fines stem from violations noted in the second half of 2019.
The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) announced in a press release Friday that it has issued fines against U.S. Steel for Article XXI Air Pollution Control violations and permit violations.
The violations occurred at the Clairton Coke Works during the second and third quarters of 2019.
ACHD has assessed $743,625 in stipulated penalties. Ninety percent (90%) of penalties ($669,262.50) will be paid to the Community Benefit Trust for impacted communities while the remaining 10% ($74,362.50) will be paid to the Clean Air Fund.
The stipulated penalties were calculated pursuant to the Department’s agreement that was reached with U.S. Steel in June of 2019. That agreement can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/35TEz9V
Find out what's happening in Pittsburghfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“Sadly, we don’t think that fines alone will make a difference. We’d also like to point out that while we think it’s great that the majority of the fine will benefit a community trust, we unfortunately still know nothing about its terms,” GASPExecutive Director Rachel Filippini said. “The fines levied against U.S. Steel in this most recent order are for the same type of violations that we’ve seen from the company for years, if not decades. The repeated nature of these violations is indicative of chronic operational failures and systemic sub par facility maintenance.”
Filippini added: “In addition to fining US Steel, ACHD officials must get to work on coke-oven emission regulations and a procedure to protect public health when weather conditions combine with industrial air pollution to threaten local air quality, as they committed to do.”
