A small electrical fire early Monday at US Steel's Clairton coke facility took down the recently repaired desulfurization equipment at the Pittsburgh-area plant, the company said.
"Early this morning, Monday, June 17, a small electrical fire was detected on an electrical breaker panel impacting power to the by-products facility of our Clairton Plant," US Steel said in a statement. "There were no injuries and the fire was quickly extinguished. Immediately, steps were taken to mitigate environmental impacts. Crews are working to assess the facility and the steps necessary to return the facility to normal operations.
"At present, the desulfurization process is not operational. We are following mitigation steps to include replacing coke oven gas with natural gas and flaring while we work to repair the damaged equipment."
There was no impact on production at the facility Monday, a spokeswoman for the company said.
The desulfurization equipment at Clairton was previously damaged following a December 24, 2018 fire at the facility. US Steel announced in early April it had completed repairs to the equipment ahead of schedule to bring the facility back into compliance. Originally the company expected repairs to be completed in mid-May.
In late February, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) issued an enforcement order against US Steel's Pittsburgh-area Mon Valley Works facilities for continued air permit violations for daily sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions following the December fire.
"We have notified all appropriate regulatory agencies and will continue to provide updates to the public as more information is available," US Steel said Monday.
