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

“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,” GASP Executive 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.”

Here’s a quick guide to the ACHD orders proposed to be resolved by the draft June 2019 settlement agreement & order between ACHD and U.S. Steel:

Editor’s Note: Please check back – article will be updated with reactions and links to news stories as they become available.