U.S. Steel unveils pledge to cut emissions

U.S. Steel will increase its use of renewable energy and steel scrap recycling

• Kathleen Davis/WESA
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Kathleen J. Davis was born and raised in the great state of Michigan in a city just north of Detroit. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 with a degree in political science.
  
  As General Assignment Reporter, Kathleen covers a little bit of everything. She also contributes to the Pittsburgh Tech Report and Good Question! series.

(Pittsburgh) — U.S. Steel has announced it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2030. The plan relies in large part on upgrades at two large facilities near Pittsburgh.

The company is building a more efficient casting and rolling facility at the Edgar Thomas Plant in Braddock, upgrades U.S. Steel hails as the first of their kind in the country. The Clairton Plant will also be updated to generate electricity from its coke oven gas and exhaust. These updates are projected to cost $1 billion.

U.S. Steel will also increase its use of renewable energy and steel scrap recycling. According to a press release, these emission reductions will be equal to the emissions generated by 850,000 homes annually.

Matt Mehalik, executive director of the advocacy group Breathe Project, said any pledge to reduce emissions is good.

“However, this sort of corporate announcement probably would have been notable a decade ago,” Mehalik said. “Nowadays, a 20 percent efficiency improvement is really a run-of-the-mill improvement.”

John Baillie, senior attorney for the Group Against Smog and Pollution, or GASP, agreed that any step U.S. Steel makes to cut emissions is positive.

“[However] they still have significant compliance issues at the Clairton Works, and this will do nothing to resolve those,” Baillie said.

The Clairton Plant south of Pittsburgh is the largest emitter of hydrogen sulfide in Pennsylvania. While not a greenhouse gas, the colorless gas is known for a rotten egg smell and poses a public health risk. According to Allegheny County Health Department data, the plant has violated emission standards dozens of times this year.

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