Fatal explosion at U.S. Steel plant raises questions about its future

The fatal explosion last week at U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area coal-processing plant has revived debate about its future just as the iconic American company was emerging from a long period of uncertainty.

- BY MARC LEVY

GENE J. PUSKAR Associated Press A LABOR union said it's always a struggle to get U.S. Steel to invest in its plants.

The fortunes of steelmaking in the United States — along with profits, share prices and steel prices — have been buoyed by years of friendly administrations in Washington that slapped tariffs on foreign imports and bolstered the industry's anticompetitive trade cases against China.

Most recently, President Trump’s administration postponed new hazardous air pollution requirements for the nation’s roughly dozen coke plants, including Clairton Coke Works, where the blast occurred, and he approved U.S. Steel’s nearly $15-billion acquisition by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel.

Nippon Steel’s promised infusion of cash has brought vows that steelmaking will continue in the Mon Valley, a river valley south of Pittsburgh long synonymous with steelmaking.

“We're investing money here. And we wouldn't have done the deal with Nippon Steel if we weren't absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here in the Mon Valley,” David Burritt, U.S. Steel's chief executive, said at a news conference Tuesday, a day after the explosion. "You can count on this facility to be around for a long, long time.”

Will the explosion change anything?

The explosion killed two workers and hospitalized 10 with a blast so powerful that it took hours to find two missing workers beneath charred wreckage and rubble. The cause is under investigation.

The plant is considered the largest coking operation in North America and, along with a blast furnace and finishing mill up the Monongahela River, is one of a handful of integrated steelmaking operations left in the U.S.

The explosion now could test Nippon Steel's resolve in propping up the nearly 110-year-old Clairton plant, or at least force it to spend more than it had anticipated.