U.S. Steel nixes $1 billion upgrades at Mon Valley Works facilities

Apr. 30—Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will cancel plans for more than $1 billion in upgrades and investment at the Mon Valley Works facilities, CEO David Burritt said in a letter to the community released Friday.

The projects, worth more than $1.2 billion collectively, were announced just under two years ago, in May 2019. The work was meant to improve efficiency and reduce pollution.

"That was a good day," Burritt wrote. "Today is a difficult day."

The company is "setting aside this project as we step forward to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world," he said, noting the projects announced in 2019 would have decreased the carbon footprint but "we must now move farther and faster."

The company announced earlier in April its plans to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050.

U.S. Steel also announced the intention to shutter the idle batteries 1, 2 and 3 at the Clairton Plant — about 17% of the coke production.

Leaders in 2019 pointed to the investment as one that would bring job security and ensure jobs for future generations of steel workers. They included a new endless casting and rolling facility at the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock and a cogeneration facility at the Clairton Plant — all projected to be online by next year.

Burritt at the time called it a "truly transformational investment."

On Friday, he indicated the company had still not received proper permits to begin the work — permits delayed in part by the covid-19 pandemic. He said the company agreed with the pause on the permitting process but "this delay allowed for a consequential window of time during which we expanded our understanding of steelmaking's future in a rapidly decarbonizing world."

Allegheny County health officials pushed back against the idea their department dropped the ball in terms of the permitting process.

"We are disappointed that there was a suggestion by U.S. Steel that their decision was based in part on the (health department's) permitting process," said Jim Kelly, the department's deputy director of environmental health.

He said the department worked closely with the company "for an extensive period of time" on the project. He conceded the pandemic affected operations on both ends, "but I can verify that we continued to work proactively to move this project along." The department's statement included its timeline of U.S. Steel's permit application, beginning in May 2019.

State Sen. Kim Ward, a Republican from Hempfield who is the Senate majority leader, made a statement on Twitter Friday afternoon about U.S. Steel's decision, sharply criticial of the Allegheny County Health Department and others: "This is what happens when local officials, the Allegheny County Health Dept. and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) kowtow to extreme environmental groups without actually looking at the facts or consider the fallout. This investment would have decreased U.S. Steel's carbon footprint.

"What happened today is the result of local government leaders letting radical environmental groups like PennFuture, GASP and Breathe PA, funded in part by elitist Pittsburgh Foundations, bully them into abandoning blue-collar workers, the PA Building trades and the very heart of what built America — PITTSBURGH STEEL," Ward wrote.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Braddock's former mayor who thrust the struggling steel town into the national spotlight, said he was devastated by the news and heartbroken for the employees.

"We had the opportunity to make some of the greenest steel in the world right here in Braddock and secure the future of thousands of good-paying union jobs," he said in a statement. "But we lost that opportunity today."

Fetterman pointed to public officials "bending over backward" to try to lure Amazon to Pittsburgh during the battle for its HQ2, alleging that similar enthusiasm was absent "when it came to fighting for good- paying union jobs.

"What a disappointment," he said.

Leaders of Pittsburgh Works, an economic group made up of officials from manufacturing, steel, energy and labor unions, blamed elected officials and business development organizations for bowing to "factually suspect attacks" by environmental groups, their underwriters and "an activist health department."

The loss of the project translates to a loss of around 1,000 construction jobs, the group said.

Jeff Nobers, executive director of the group, took particular aim at the Allegheny County Health Department, which has long sparred with U.S. Steel over emissions and pollution levels.

"This was not an absence of opportunity by the health department; it was clearly an unwillingness to act," Nobers said.

Environmental group Penn Environment, however, applauded the announcements, particularly the decision to shut down the three batteries at the Clairton Plant.

"Permanently closing the three worst-polluting coke batteries," said clean air advocate Zachary Barber, "will come as a huge breath of fresh air to residents in the Mon Valley and across the region."

The Breathe Project, though, criticized the decision and denounced the company's move away from investment that would reduce emissions.

"The Mon Valley has endured a long history of broken promises, followed by abandonment, that has burdened communities for generations," said Debra Smit, a spokesperson for the group that gathers and analyzes air quality information.

"This announcement is just the latest episode," she said, chastising the company for not investing in innovation and "improving quality of life while securing employment."

Though the idling of the Clairton Coke Works batteries will improve air quality, it will take more than a year to see the improvements, said Rachel Filippini, executive director of Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP).

"Waiting for another 1.5 years for that to happen will continue to add pollution in the Mon Valley and Allegheny County," she said.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@triblive.com or via Twitter .