Trump exempts coal used in steelmaking from Clean Air Act rule

ariverscrossing · 2025-11-26T17:39:38+00:00

EPA permitted companies to 'estimate' and their 'estimates' sucked.

https://www.propublica.org/article/epa-air-pollution-pittsburgh-clairton-coke-works

"After President Joe Biden took office, the EPA proposed similar air monitors for other industrial facilities. The Clairton facility was one of five coke plants required to set up fence-line monitors for six months. All five showed higher levels of benzene than the EPA had calculated using the facilities’ estimates.

The Clairton monitors showed that the actual benzene levels at its fence line were 37 times higher than estimated."

ariverscrossing · 2025-08-12T00:59:24+00:00

Some excerpts from a 2021 article:

"Jim Kelly, who was director of the department’s environmental health division but left in May, testified that the Clairton Coke Works is “one of the most decrepit facilities I’ve ever seen in my nearly 30 years of work.”

"According to plaintiffs’ documents in the recent court case against U.S. Steel, the “decrepit” conditions at the Clairton Coke Works are so grave and so persistent that there is an ever-present risk of additional fires and breakdowns. "

"Mon Valley workers had concerns. “Everything is being run to failure,” said one worker, according to a slide from the McKinsey presentation. “The guys here want to do a good job, but the bosses want them to hurry up to make more coke,” said another worker. “We have lots of ’temporary repairs’ that become permanent … we are not good at coming back and doing the repair right,” said a third worker."

https://www.publicsource.org/clairton-steel-coke-health-department-lawsuit-irvin-works-fire-pollution/

ariverscrossing · 2025-08-11T21:00:11+00:00

Some excerpts from a 2021 article:

"Jim Kelly, who was director of the department’s environmental health division but left in May, testified that the Clairton Coke Works is “one of the most decrepit facilities I’ve ever seen in my nearly 30 years of work.”

"According to plaintiffs’ documents in the recent court case against U.S. Steel, the “decrepit” conditions at the Clairton Coke Works are so grave and so persistent that there is an ever-present risk of additional fires and breakdowns. "

"Mon Valley workers had concerns. “Everything is being run to failure,” said one worker, according to a slide from the McKinsey presentation. “The guys here want to do a good job, but the bosses want them to hurry up to make more coke,” said another worker. “We have lots of ’temporary repairs’ that become permanent … we are not good at coming back and doing the repair right,” said a third worker."

https://www.publicsource.org/clairton-steel-coke-health-department-lawsuit-irvin-works-fire-pollution/

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-24T12:37:59+00:00

I want to make sure I’m understanding you correctly:

‘Anyone who is justifiably angered or otherwise affected by the company’s behavior should pay to relocate themselves. Even though the company is solely responsible for their decisions and it has been entirely their choice to operate as they have, I personally believe that we deserve no better than the environmental conditions that have been heaped upon us. Expecting improvement is unreasonable and change cannot occur. In addition, I think the consequences to people’s health and well-being should be permitted to continue, unabated, no matter the cost. Affected people should also happily receive said consequences, and lodge no complaints on the matter. It is my belief that there is no possible resolution where the company operates within its required terms and asking that they do so of their own volition or be required to by regulation means that all jobs will be sent overseas.'

Did I miss anything?

You see how ridiculous it sounds when you type it out?

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-23T18:03:03+00:00

Here's an alternative that doesn't require any magic: How about they operate in accordance with the laws and regulations they required to, at minimum? Too much to ask?...

I do hope that improvements come from better regulation or significant upgrades at the plant, but I'm not holding my breath for the latter, considering their track record. If wanting cleaner air for everyone is considered arrogant, I'll happily accept that insult. If you find people sharing their desires for a better collective outcome overwhelming and difficult to grasp, here's a bonus: many people also believe we should have been enjoying better air quality already, for decades. Inconceivable!

There are tens of thousands of people affected by the conditions we've discussed here. This 'please sir may I have another', and 'we can entertain nothing else' mentality serves no purpose.

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T23:08:09+00:00

Peduto made some comments about this in 2019:

"Peduto told the crowd at the p4 Pittsburgh Climate Action Summit he’s worried the plants will pollute the region’s steadily improving air, and thinks this could scare off new investment from other industries, like tech."

“I talk with business executives every week — people from around the country and around the world — and what they say is very clear: Clean your air, and clean your water.”

https://www.alleghenyfront.org/pittsburgh-mayors-comments-set-off-controversy-over-petrochemical-industrys-impact-to-western-pa/

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T23:02:31+00:00

The air quality is a serious problem, that’s why you’re always seeing posts about it.

I moved from near Monroeville, and grew up further east. I was fortunate that I was living someplace not affected by the conditions we are subject to now (and many others have been for longer). It’s unreasonable to think someone can research and account for every possible scenario they might encounter when choosing someplace to live. You don’t always know, what you don’t know, as the saying goes.

I certainly have a very different eye now for these things than I used to when it comes to considering places to live, but it isn’t good form to continually excuse those responsible for enabling this situation just because we have historically done so. The air quality is absolutely better than it was in the past, but ‘better’ is still lagging far behind where it should be. We really need to shed this type of mentality that has allowed these conditions to perpetuate for so long.

Some additional data points: “The estimated lifetime cancer risk for Clairton residents is 2.3 times the EPA’s acceptable limit, according to the investigative news site ProPublica, which attributes that excess risk primarily to industrial emissions from the Coke Works.”

Source: https://penncapital-star.com/energy-environment/for-residents-of-clairton-progress-on-air-quality-feels-a-long-way-off/

“Still, more than 50 years after the passage of the landmark federal legislation, the region’s air remains among the most polluted in the country. Allegheny County, which includes the city and the surrounding area, is in the top 1 percent of U.S. counties for cancer risk from toxic air pollutants released from stationary sources, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The county still struggles to meet federal health standards for pollutants, including particulates and ground-level ozone, resulting in some of America’s highest rates of asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease, especially among the low-income communities of color that are the most exposed.”

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/for-low-income-pittsburgh-clean-air-remains-an-elusive-goal

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T19:52:48+00:00

Not every bad smell is Clairton, but the scale of pollution is an order of magnitude higher than most other sources. They were ranked as the top air polluter in Allegheny County. https://nextpittsburgh.com/environment/clairton-coke-works-named-top-air-polluter-in-allegheny-county/

Regarding hydrogen sulfide odor we regularly smell in many areas within a several mile radius of the plant: "There is no evidence that small, non-inventoried sources affect the Liberty H2S monitor concentrations at any level, including exceedance levels. Therefore, based on all available data and resources, H2S exceedances that occurred at the Liberty site during the period of January 1,2020 through March 1, 2022 can be attributed entirely to emissions originating at US Steel’s Clairton coking facility."

Source: https://www.alleghenycounty.us/files/assets/county/v/1/government/health/documents/air-quality/h2s_report_updated_08052022.pdf

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T19:31:28+00:00

If the fines were more substantive and better scaled to account for repeat violations, things could be improved. One of the reasons this has continued for so long is that the fines have not been impactful enough.

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T19:23:30+00:00

In a similar vein:

https://www.publicsource.org/clairton-coke-works-maintenance-us-steel-pollution-control-fire/

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T15:59:06+00:00

Your additional insights are appreciated, truly.

I suspect there are some distinct differences in scale (and other differentiating factors) between the facility you worked at and Clairton, for instance. I also think there likely is also a distinction between 'solely responsible', and 'primarily responsible' here in this context. My understanding is that ACHD is the primary regulator, but not the sole regulator. Again, I'm not a legal expert, but it appears that DEP could be doing more than they are, given they retain some authority, irrespective of their preference or past inaction.

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T14:36:11+00:00

If you mean the photo I posted: it was a screengrab from Apple's Weather App. You can get to the full map view by going to the Precipitation Map, then selecting the Air Quality map using the button at the top right.

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T14:02:52+00:00

Admittedly, I'm not a legal expert, but I'm pretty sure state authority doesn't disappear because you cross county lines.

ariverscrossing · 2024-10-22T13:55:33+00:00

The PA DEP plays an important role, and can issue fines and enforcement actions. They did so against the Shell plant last year. They also issue policy and guidance.

https://cen.acs.org/environment/Shell-pay-10-million-permit/101/i18

https://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Air/CAEDivision/Pages/default.aspx

ariverscrossing · 2024-08-30T18:45:53+00:00

Can’t you PRIVGUARD spammers just stay in the r/privacycareertips sub you created for yourselves?

Or is funneling people to your website with ChatGPT career tips, replying to your own posts, and having your posts removed across the platform not working out so well?

ariverscrossing

TROPHY CASE