EPA v. UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION (USS CORP/EDGARD THOMSON)

Case summary

On December 16, 2022 the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (the Court ) entered the consent decree ( CD ) previously lodged with the Court by the US Department of Justice (DOJ ) with co-plaintiff Allegheny County Health Department ( ACHD ) on May 17, 2022, resolving CAA violations by US Steel Corporation ( USS ) at its Edgar Thomson Works integrated steel mill located in Braddock, PA (the Facility ). The basis of the CD is USS? violation of requirements found in the federally enforceable Allegheny County portion of the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan ( the Allegheny County SIP ) and of the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities, 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart FFFFF (the ?Iron & Steel MACT?) incorporated by reference into ACHD regulations governing operations at the Facility. The failure to meet these requirements was identified by Method 9 visible emissions observations conducted by EPA and ACHD in the period between 2014 and 2017 and a compliance inspection conducted by EPA in 2017. Following the lodging of the Consent Decree, numerous detailed comments were submitted by citizen?s groups and individual members of the public. These comments were addressed by the Plaintiffs in a Motion to Enter filed with the Court in October 2022. The specific violations alleged include: observed visible emission (?VE?) violations from the Basic Oxygen Process Shop (?BOP Shop?) scrubber stack; VE violations observed by ACHD from Blast Furnaces #1 and #3; VE violations observed BOP Shop roof; multiple violations of the Iron & Steel MACT, including, failures to properly average/record water flow rate and pressure drops for venturi scrubbers, and continuing failures to repair within one month emission control equipment at the BOP shop; violations of the Allegheny County SIP requirement to take reasonable measures to prevent fugitive emissions at top of the BOP Shop; violations of the Allegheny County SIP requirement to conduct proper maintenance and operation of control equipment for rotary valves on baghouses; and violations of ACHD?s regulation, the Allegheny County SIP requirement, and the CAA Title V permit requiring accurate and complete annual certification of compliance for 2016, for failure to identify previously-cited violations, and for failure to report multiple deviations in two semi-annual reports dated July 29, 2016 and January 27, 2017. USS estimates that it will spend at least $ 3.5 to complete required injunctive relief and bring its operations into compliance with the Clean Air Act. In addition to these compliance costs, the proposed consent decree also requires USS to pay a civil penalty of $1,500,000 collectively to the United States and ACHD. The proposed consent decree also includes a supplemental environmental project solely credited against ACHD's share of the civil penalty and approved by ACHD pursuant to its own policies. As a result of this settlement, USS will be implementing numerous improvements in training, monitoring, inventory tracking and work practices in addition to conducting studies on potential improvements to pollution control systems that should increase compliance and timely response to emissions exceedances and ultimately reduce particulate matter loading in the vicinity of the facility.

Defendants (1)

• UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATIONNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (2)

• USS/EDGAR THOMSOM

  13TH STREET & BRADDOCK AVENUE, BRADDOCK, PA, 15104

  Registry ID: 110001116934

• USS CORP/EDGAR THOMSON WORKS

  13TH & BRADDOCK AVE, BRADDOCK, PA, 15104

  Registry ID: 110001116934

Statutes cited

• CAA 110 — Implementation Plan for National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards
• CAA 112C — Hazardous Air Pollutants
• CAA 502 — Operating Permits (Title V)

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION (USS CORP/EDGARD THOMSON)entered 2022-12-16

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $750,000 · State/local: $750,000

Timeline (5 milestones)

• 2018-09-28Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2018-10-02Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2022-05-16Complaint Filed With Court
• 2022-05-17Final Order Lodged
• 2022-12-16Final Order Entered