Battery issue at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works causes "boom," sends 2 to hospital
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An issue with a battery at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works sent two people to the hospital on Wednesday, according to the Allegheny County Health Department.
Relaying information provided by U.S. Steel, the health department said there was an issue with the B Battery at the Clairton plant overnight.
"They discovered there was a hydraulic failure in a switch of the battery, which led to a buildup of combustible material in the under-fire system, which then ignited. That caused an audible 'boom' that some residents may have heard, as well as 20 seconds of emissions to leak," the health department said in a news release.
A local environment group captured the event on tape, calling it an explosion followed by a flaring and fire.
"The camera captured what looks like an explosion coming out of one of the three main stacks in the center part of the plant, almost like you would see a cannon after a cannon shoots out a cannonball," said Matthew Mehalik with the Breathe Project.
Two people needed first aid treatment after getting "material" in their eyes, authorities said. They were taken to the hospital but were not seriously injured.
The health department said there was an uptick in readings at the Clairton air quality monitor around 4:45 a.m. that lasted about 75 minutes, but pollution rates were still "well under" the Environmental Protection Agency's 24-hour rate.
While Mehalik is trying to assess the environmental impacts, he says the event is cause for alarm.
"Nobody wants to be awakened at 4:30 in the morning from an industrial explosion and no one wants to be exposed to the pollution that can be coming out of open flaring or the venting of coke gas up through smokestacks," he said.
It's not the first explosion or fire at the plant, and Mehalik says this latest event points to the need to upgrade and modernize the Coke Works.
"Absent a very significant reinvestment in changing the way this whole system operates in the Mon Valley and making the communities who have borne the brunt of this whole, we are witnessing the unfolding of an ongoing unfortunate tragedy in the Mon Valley," Mehalik said.
The health department said it will continue to monitor results closely.
In a statement, U.S. Steel called it a rare occurrence confined to an isolated part of the plant that poses no threat to the community. The steelmaker has taken the battery offline and is conducting an internal investigation.
