EoW September 2013

Transatlantic cable

US Steel is allowed more time to cut the emissions from its new coke ovens at Clairton

Two new towers will be installed at Clairton later this year to reduce emissions from the quenching of hot coke with water. That is the last major project stemming from a 2008 consent decree in which US Steel agreed to reduce emissions at the plant, Mr Thompson said. Clairton is North America’s largest coke plant, producing about 4.5 million tons of the blast furnace fuel annually. The new battery can produce about 960,000 tons of baked coal annually. † The Post-Gazette‘s Mr Boselovic noted that US Steel has also experienced problems this year with a new coke plant at its Gary Works, in Indiana. Chairman and CEO John P Surma told analysts on 30 th April that the company had “encountered some challenges” at the front end of the equipment, which relies on di erent technology from that deployed at Clairton. Citing weak steel market conditions, Mr Surma said the company was delaying construction of a second coke-making module at Gary until it resolved the issues with the rst unit.

As reported by Len Boselovic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (19 th June), more than six months after ring up a new battery of coke ovens at its Clairton plant, US Steel was still trying to bring the new equipment into compliance with air quality standards set by the Allegheny County Health Department. Costing $500 million, the battery was designed to enable the plant, a longtime source of air quality complaints in the region, to signi cantly reduce emissions of possibly hazardous pollutants. In a prepared statement the Pittsburgh steel producer said that it was “appropriate to anticipate” that it might take longer for “a complex innovative process to be fully implemented.” The company, which began operating the new battery last November, received an extension of the shakedown period to 31 st July. The steelmaker said it expected to meet all but one of the requirements by that date. Jim Thompson, manager of the county’s air quality programme, acknowledged that Clairton emissions are well down from levels of ve years ago. Mr Thompson told the Post-Gazette that the sole remaining problem concerns emissions that leak from the battery when coal is inserted into the ovens to begin the baking process. These may include coal dust and small amounts of hazardous pollutants such as benzene and other ne particulates, he said. “In the last two weeks, it’s gotten much better,” said Mr Thompson.

Aluminium vs steel

A contrarian Alcoa seeks to adjust the congressional mind-set on tax breaks for corporations Poised in June to take up a review of corporate tax rates and tax deductions, the US Congress would also incidentally indicate

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September 2013