US Steel’s Filthy Track Record
Nippon Steel wants to buy United States Steel for $16.1 billion. The US government will review the deal through the Committee on Foreign Investment. It is not clear if or when the deal will be approved. US Steel management claims the closing will be in mid-2024. Bloomberg reports that a review will not be done this year. An important question that has not been answered is why Nippon would want to own an American manufacturer with such a dismal environmental track record.
More corporate trouble: Who owns America’s biggest polluter?
Nippon may think it can stop the continuation of US Steel’s long list of broken environmental rules. When it made the offer, Nippon’s management announced it “Drives the global steel industry towards decarbonization and a sustainable world.”
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, on January 6, “The Allegheny County Health Department has slapped a $2.2 million fine on the U.S. Steel over air-emission violations at the Clairton Coke Works.”
On July 11 last year, CBS News reported: “The Allegheny County Health Department fined U.S. Steel over $300,000 for pollution at the Clairton Coke Works during the third quarter of 2022. “
On April 5, Next Pittsburgh reported, “U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works plant won dubious honors in the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center’s “Toxic Ten” report as the worst air polluter in Allegheny County. “
According to The Allegheny Front, on October 6, the EPA rejected part of US Steel’s air quality permits. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ordering Allegheny County to rewrite its air permit for U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. “
Some problems reach back further in time but have only recently been resolved. According to WESA, “A lawsuit over the Christmas Eve 2018 fire that crippled U.S. Steel’s pollution controls at its Clairton Coke Works and exposed thousands near Pittsburgh to high levels of air pollution has been settled, according to an attorney on the case.”
Taken together, these incidents paint a picture of an environmentally careless company. No wonder US Steel’s management hopes it will be sold soon.
