On December 16, 2022 the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (the Court ) entered the consent decree ( CD ) previously lodged with the Court by the US Department of Justice (DOJ ) with co-plaintiff Allegheny County Health Department ( ACHD ) on May 17, 2022, resolving CAA violations by US Steel Corporation ( USS ) at its Edgar Thomson Works integrated steel mill located in Braddock, PA (the Facility ). The basis of the CD is USS? violation of requirements found in the federally enforceable Allegheny County portion of the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan ( the Allegheny County SIP ) and of the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities, 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart FFFFF (the ?Iron & Steel MACT?) incorporated by reference into ACHD regulations governing operations at the Facility. The failure to meet these requirements was identified by Method 9 visible emissions observations conducted by EPA and ACHD in the period between 2014 and 2017 and a compliance inspection conducted by EPA in 2017. Following the lodging of the Consent Decree, numerous detailed comments were submitted by citizen?s groups and individual members of the public. These comments were addressed by the Plaintiffs in a Motion to Enter filed with the Court in October 2022.
The specific violations alleged include: observed visible emission (?VE?) violations from the Basic Oxygen Process Shop (?BOP Shop?)