As investigators head to Clairton, U.S. Steel says it's ready to get to bottom of deadly explosion
The tragedy has rocked the Mon Valley, and its congresswoman wants answers. Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lee is appreciative of U.S. Steel's efforts to get to the bottom of this, but she said this can never happen again.
Lee said leaders need to make sure the people who work in these facilities, whether here in Clairton or other parts of the Mon Valley, are in a safe environment.
"So that we can get the full truth on not just what happened, how it happened, and what do we do now, what needs to be done to make sure that something like this never happens again," Rep. Lee said.
According to Lee, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency will be involved in this process. They each have federal regulation and investigative power.
Lee didn't have a timeline for when more details could come out. She said some of the investigation will need to be talking with the people who were there, some of whom are still recovering.
"Those are some of the folks who will be able to talk more in detail about what happened in real time," Lee said.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has a team at the plant investigating. The board is an independent agency that doesn't issue citations or fines but gives recommendations to companies and groups like OSHA
"Today, we were just able to see the initial debris field as the site is being made safe to allow for further entry," U.S. Chemical Safety Board chemical incident investigator William Steiner said.
KDKA has been contacted by multiple steelworkers claiming U.S. Steel maintenance work is reactive and not preventative, and may have played a role in this explosion. CEO David Burritt had this response.
"I'm shocked and outraged at that statement. I find it unbelievable because of safety being in our DNA," Burritt said. "We take this extraordinarily seriously."
Congresswoman Lee said that, whether it be U.S. Steel or Nippon Steel, there must be a commitment and investments to fix whatever issues happened and make all mills safer.
"If there is no accountability, then we can't say for sure that safety is in the DNA," Rep. Lee said.
Her office is working on getting in contact with Nippon, which has put out a statement saying it's committed to giving all the resources needed to heal from this tragedy.
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