Fire renews residents’ concerns over air quality
By JAMIE MARTINES
Some Mon Valley residents are once again wondering if their air is safe to breathe after another fire this week at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works.
“It’s really scary actually, because it’s summertime, and we like to be outside,” Clairton resident Tonya Carroll, 29, said Tuesday.
Carroll, who has two young children, can see some of the plant’s stacks from her porch on Locust Avenue, less than a mile from the plant. She worries her little ones are at risk for developing respiratory issues.
An early-morning electrical fire Monday at the Clairton Coke Works caused the shutdown of three control rooms at the plant — 1, 2 and 5 —responsible for pollution control. That shutdown included the same equipment that was offline for months following a Dec. 24 fire at the facility. During the first shutdown, the Allegheny County Health Department recorded several instances of higher-than-normal emissions of sulfur dioxide, or SO2, from the plant.
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