Local environmental groups in Western Pennsylvania say Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel should lead to cleaner operations at the company’s Pittsburgh-area plants. However, they haven’t heard much from U.S. Steel’s new owners about what it plans to do, and they’re worried the company will put environmental compliance at the bottom of its priority list.

“We are not against steel, we are against being poisoned,” said Qiyam Ansari, president of Valley Clean Air Now, a local advocacy group based in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley. “We are not against investment, we’re against neglect.”

Ansari said his group has received no response to the multiple requests it has sent, asking to meet with Nippon officials. At issue is the environmental performance of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, a string of three plants near Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of will or technical capabilities. Maybe it’s just, they don’t see it as necessary,” Ansari said.

In an email, U.S. Steel spokesman Andrew Fulton stated that the two companies were still finalizing their “partnership,” and integrating the two firms would take time. “There are still many things to be determined about how the two companies will come together. We will share relevant information as this process continues,” Fulton said.

The Mon Valley Works is the largest source of benzene and other pollutants in Allegheny County. The plants have racked up $64 million in settlements and fines from air violations in Allegheny County since 2020. U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, the largest coke plant in the U.S., has violated the Clean Air Act in each of the past 12 quarters, according to the EPA.

In federal filings, Nippon says it will spend $2.4 billion in “capital investments” at theMon Valley Works, which employs 3,000 workers, many of them unionized. The company plans to invest a total of $10.8 billion in U.S. Steel facilities around the country.

Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, says that level of investment means the company can afford to clean up Mon Valley Works. (Both Breathe Project and Valley Clean Air Now are funded by The Heinz Endowments, which also funds The Allegheny Front.)

“Nippon needs to fix the leaks and the problems with these plants, starting tomorrow,” Mehalik said. “They own them now, [the plants are] theirs. The emissions violations need to come to an end immediately.”

Numerous studies have shown U.S. Steel’s impact on surrounding communities.

One study documented increased asthma episodes after a 2018 fire at the plant knocked out its pollution controls. Another found children living near U.S. Steel plants in the Mon Valley had “nearly triple” the national asthma rate, with the highest rates among African-American children.

“This isn’t abstract,” said Ansari. “This is our breath. This is our blood pressure.”

Nippon’s $14.9 billion purchase was recently approved by the Trump administration. The purchase came after Nippon agreed to give the U.S. government a “Golden Share” in the company. In this arrangement, the company is partially nationalized, giving the U.S. government control over some company decisions, such as closing or idling plants, moving headquarters or shifting production overseas.

But Ansari noted the Golden Share agreement does not mention environmental compliance.

“There is no provision in that agreement that directly protects public health,” Ansari said. “The Golden Share protects steel production and does not protect the lungs of children living near blast furnaces.”

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