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Fast Company
a few seconds ago
- Fast Company
U.S. Steel plant explosion raises questions about its future
The fatal explosion last week at U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area coal-processing plant has revived debate about its future just as the iconic American company was emerging from a long period of uncertainty. The fortunes of steelmaking in the U.S. — along with profits, share prices and steel prices — have been buoyed by years of friendly administrations in Washington that slapped tariffs on foreign imports and bolstered the industry's anti-competitive trade cases against China. Most recently, President Donald Trump 's administration postponed new hazardous air pollution requirements for the nation's roughly dozen coke plants, like Clairton, and he approved U.S. Steel's nearly $15 billion acquisition by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel's promised infusion of cash has brought vows that steelmaking will continue in the Mon Valley, a river valley south of Pittsburgh long synonymous with steelmaking. 'We're investing money here. And we wouldn't have done the deal with Nippon Steel if we weren't absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here in the Mon Valley,' David Burritt, U.S. Steel's CEO, told a news conference the day after the explosion. 'You can count on this facility to be around for a long, long time.' Will the explosion change anything? The explosion killed two workers and hospitalized 10 with a blast so powerful that it took hours to find two missing workers beneath charred wreckage and rubble. The cause is under investigation. The plant is considered the largest coking operation in North America and, along with a blast furnace and finishing mill up the Monongahela River, is one of a handful of integrated steelmaking operations left in the U.S. The explosion now could test Nippon Steel's resolve in propping up the nearly 110-year-old Clairton plant, or at least force it to spend more than it had anticipated. Nippon Steel didn't respond to a question as to whether the explosion will change its approach to the plant. Rather, a spokesperson for the company said its 'commitment to the Mon Valley remains strong' and that it sent 'technical experts to work with the local teams in the Clairton Plant, and to provide our full support.' Meanwhile, Burritt said he had talked to top Nippon Steel officials after the explosion and that 'this facility and the Mon Valley are here to stay.' U.S. Steel officials maintain that safety is their top priority and that they spend $100 million a year on environmental compliance at Clairton alone. However, repairing Clairton could be expensive, an investigation into the explosion could turn up more problems, and an official from the United Steelworkers union said it's a constant struggle to get U.S. Steel to invest in its plants. Besides that, production at the facility could be affected for some time. The plant has six batteries of ovens and two — where the explosion occurred — were damaged. Two others are on a reduced production schedule because of the explosion. There is no timeline to get the damaged batteries running again, U.S. Steel said. Accidents are nothing new at Clairton Accidents are nothing new at Clairton, which heats coal to high temperatures to make coke, a key component in steelmaking, and produces combustible gases as byproducts. An explosion in February injured two workers. Even as Nippon Steel was closing the deal in June, a breakdown at the plant dealt three days of a rotten egg odor into the air around it from elevated hydrogen sulfide emissions, the environmental group GASP reported. The Breathe Project, a public health organization, said U.S. Steel has been forced to pay $57 million in fines and settlements since Jan. 1, 2020, for problems at the Clairton plant. A lawsuit over a Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton plant in 2018 that saturated the area's air for weeks with sulfur dioxide produced a withering assessment of conditions there. An engineer for the environmental groups that sued wrote that he 'found no indication that U.S. Steel has an effective, comprehensive maintenance program for the Clairton plant.' The Clairton plant, he wrote, is 'inherently dangerous because of the combination of its deficient maintenance and its defective design.' U.S. Steel settled, agreeing to spend millions on upgrades. Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, said U.S. Steel has shown more willingness to spend money on fines, lobbying the government and buying back shares to reward shareholders than making its plants safe. Will Clairton be modernized? It's not clear whether Nippon Steel will change Clairton. Central to Trump's approval of the acquisition was Nippon Steel's promises to invest $11 billion into U.S. Steel's aging plants and to give the federal government a say in decisions involving domestic steel production, including plant closings. But much of the $2.2 billion that Nippon Steel has earmarked for the Mon Valley plants is expected to go toward upgrading the finishing mill, or building a new one. For years before the acquisition, U.S. Steel had signaled that the Mon Valley was on the chopping block. That left workers there uncertain whether they'd have jobs in a couple years and whispering that U.S. Steel couldn't fill openings because nobody believed the jobs would exist much longer. Relics of steelmaking's past In many ways, U.S. Steel's Mon Valley plants are relics of steelmaking's past. In the early 1970s, U.S. steel production led the world and was at an all-time high, thanks to 62 coke plants that fed 141 blast furnaces. Nobody in the U.S. has opened a new blast furnace in decades, as foreign competition devastated the American steel industry and coal fell out of favor. Now, China is dominant in steel and heavily invested in coal-based steelmaking. In the U.S., there are barely a dozen coke plants and blast furnaces left, as the country's steelmaking has shifted to cheaper electric arc furnaces that use electricity, not coal. Blast furnaces won't entirely go away, analysts say, since they produce metals that are preferred by automakers, appliance makers and oil and gas exploration firms. Still, Christopher Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, questioned whether the Clairton plant really will survive much longer, given its age and condition. It could be particularly vulnerable if the economy slides into recession or the fundamentals of the American steel market shift, he said.
The Hill
a few seconds ago
- The Hill
Zelensky, Europeans highlight ‘future security architecture' ahead of Trump meeting
Ukraine's president and a number of European leaders on Monday said the U.S. must be a partner in creating the future security architecture for Ukraine and the entire European continent. The statement came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky huddled with European leaders at the Ukrainian embassy in Georgetown before heading to the White House to meet with President Trump. While Trump has ruled out bringing Ukraine into NATO, he has raised some sort of security guarantees for the country as part of any peace deal with Russia. 'The leaders welcomed the readiness of the United States to participate in guaranteeing security for Ukraine. One of the key issues in the negotiations with President Trump will be the joint participation of the United States and Europe in creating the future security architecture for Ukraine and, consequently, for the entire European continent,' the statement read. The signatories to the statement included President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Giorgia Meloni, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The Hill
a few seconds ago
- The Hill
Mississippi joining 3 other GOP-led states sending National Guard troops to DC
Mississippi on Monday became the fourth Republican-led state to announce plans to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to bolster President Trump's crackdown on crime in the nation's capital. 'I've approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump's effort to return law and order to our nation's capital,' Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said in a post on the social platform X. 'Crime is out of control there, and it's clear something must be done to combat it,' he continued. 'Americans deserve a safe capital city that we can all be proud of. I know the brave men and women of our National Guard will do an excellent job enhancing public safety and supporting law enforcement.' West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R), South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) all announced over the weekend that they would send hundreds of soldiers from their states to nearly double the 800 D.C. National Guard members already mobilized. All three GOP governors said in their advisories that they were acting on requests from the Trump administration. The president announced a massive crime-fighting effort in Washington last week, with a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department and infusion of federal agents and National Guard troops. 'Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe 'city' in the United States, and perhaps the World,' Trump wrote in an update on Truth Social early Monday. 'Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!' Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X on Monday morning that federal authorities made 137 arrests over the weekend, bringing the total arrests since the initiative began to more than 400. 'We are not slowing down,' she wrote. 'We are committed to making DC safe again!' Trump has set his sights on tackling crime in the nation's capital, even as local officials have pushed back on characterizations of violent surges. According to the District's statistics, which Trump has deemed 'fake,' violent crime is down about 26 percent compared to this point last year.
