Clairton, Glassport cancer risk highlighted by EPA

It's just one more example of how US Steel does business.....They don't care if people live or die.

Rasputin - Why don't you move back to Pennsylvania or someone closer than Texas so you can actually be proactive in your crusade against US Steel? All I see on here are posts of you complaining about things with no positive resolution.. solution.. or action taken to spread your word. Just straight complaints.

I would like to hear some rational comments about this report/subject. I invite people from the affected communities to give their point of view. If we could possibly hear from people that do not have their hand in the pockets of USS that would be even better.

SickOfAllTheComplaining wrote:

Rasputin - Why don't you move back to Pennsylvania or someone closer than Texas so you can actually be proactive in your crusade against US Steel? All I see on here are posts of you complaining about things with no positive resolution.. solution.. or action taken to spread your word. Just straight complaints.

Read my posts about alternate application for coal and assoicated industries.

Meanwhile, make sure your gas mask works

C town gal wrote:

I would like to hear some rational comments about this report/subject. I invite people from the affected communities to give their point of view. If we could possibly hear from people that do not have their hand in the pockets of USS that would be even better.

In the words of Jerry Lee Lewis:

Ohhhh....baby,You Knoooow what I LIKE!!!

Really? They shut the mills down (LTV, etc.) years back but yet they left Clairton open? I've always wondered why? Obviously, it fills the air with pollutants--anyone can see that. Also, when it rains or the sky is cloudy, they pollute more as if we are too dumb to see it. I've been complaining about this for a long time now. I understand people need jobs, but if they kill us all, then where will we be? I'm constantly being ragged on about smoking cigarettes, but this is going to kill me much quicker so what's the point???

Sunshine wrote:

Really? They shut the mills down (LTV, etc.) years back but yet they left Clairton open? I've always wondered why? Obviously, it fills the air with pollutants--anyone can see that. Also, when it rains or the sky is cloudy, they pollute more as if we are too dumb to see it. I've been complaining about this for a long time now. I understand people need jobs, but if they kill us all, then where will we be? I'm constantly being ragged on about smoking cigarettes, but this is going to kill me much quicker so what's the point???

Thank you for your interest. You asked how US Steel keeps that old dump operating -- here's how!

HOW USS "GETS A FREEBIE PASS ON THE CLAIRTON COKE WORKS"

They have been through numerous cycles on this and they have it down to a science. In fairness to them, I have to say that they are not the only ones or even the worst offender.

Now there are numerous variations on this game plan, but here's how it works.

1. Promise conformance and work out some generalized plans for "upgrades and improvements" to be carried out at some unspecified future date.

2. Proceed in a liesurely manner to be certain that the maximum number of excuses for delays can be found or invented and taken advantage of.

3. If the company suffers any significant financial reverse, scrap the entire plan in an "economy move"

4. Threaten the employees with their jobs and the community with financial ruin if they are reluctant to cooperate or question executive decisions or behavior

5. "Poor mouth" the government the press and the general public to win sympathy and support for promises of future reformation -- also at some unspecified future date.

To be sure, this approach is not always successful. Every now and then, they will get a bloody nose and have to make a few actual improvments to "make things look good." Some variations even include this contingency and call it an "incremental approach"

The real truth of the matter is that this plant is so old and its technology so obsolete that it is more economical just to deprciate and "run it into the ground". In essence, US Steel is doing just that and trying to "make it look good."

As for the argument that people need jobs, most of the workers in that dump don't even live in or around Clairton! Following the lead of their executives, they commute from pastoral bedroom communities. That also means that practically none of the money they earn gets spent in Clairton but elsewhere!

To put it more cynically, they take money out of the town and put nothing into it but poison gas. They aren't even an industrial "army of occupation"; just raiders engaged in chemical warfare against the local populace -- firing of their gas shells in shifts!

So much for the argument that US Steel or the USW keep Clairton alive or going! Their families aren't at risk; their not the ones who are going to die.

BTW....in case your wondering, I am not a "greenie tree hugger" by any stretch of the imagination....I am an engineer who works in a refinery -- and believes that right is right and wrong is for nobody.

Thank you, Rasputin. Apparently you know much more than most of us do. You are absolutely right! It would be interesting to see how many employees of the ClairtonWorks are from Glassport or Clairton. I live in Glassport and know absolutely no one who works there. Something needs to be done effective immediately. It sounds like a bunch of political, bureaucratic nonsense once again. Everything is so corrupt that it is hard to fight against it anymore. I'm not a person that gives up easily, but I'm real close. Glassport and Clairton are falling apart and I still don't see anything positive. I guess their plan is to just kill us all and that will shut us up?

Sunshine wrote:

Thank you, Rasputin. Apparently you know much more than most of us do. You are absolutely right! It would be interesting to see how many employees of the ClairtonWorks are from Glassport or Clairton. I live in Glassport and know absolutely no one who works there. Something needs to be done effective immediately. It sounds like a bunch of political, bureaucratic nonsense once again. Everything is so corrupt that it is hard to fight against it anymore. I'm not a person that gives up easily, but I'm real close. Glassport and Clairton are falling apart and I still don't see anything positive. I guess their plan is to just kill us all and that will shut us up?

I don't know that it's part of a conscious plan so much as the fact that they simply don't care if we live or die. Why should they if they don't live here; they don't "have a dog in the fight."

This is particularly true of the executives. They are paid bonuses even if the company loses money. If it goes out of business their separation and retirement is still secure -- with these so-called "golden parachutes".

In fairness to US Steel, I have to say they are not the only ones or even the worst. Similar arrangements contributed to Enron's downfall

Sunshine - you must be living under a rock. I have family members/friends and very close friends of mine have family members that have worked there for years and years all residents of Glassport. And if it's so awful why didn't you take yourself out of the situation? No one was holding you hostage and forcing you to be a resident there. Here is the thing.. Everyone complains and no one does ANYTHING about it. If the situation is bad and it's not going to change.. GET OUT. Don't complain about being poor and having no where to go. If there's a will there's a way. So quit your damn cryin.

SickOfAllTheComplaining wrote:

Sunshine - you must be living under a rock. I have family members/friends and very close friends of mine have family members that have worked there for years and years all residents of Glassport. And if it's so awful why didn't you take yourself out of the situation? No one was holding you hostage and forcing you to be a resident there. Here is the thing.. Everyone complains and no one does ANYTHING about it. If the situation is bad and it's not going to change.. GET OUT. Don't complain about being poor and having no where to go. If there's a will there's a way. So quit your damn cryin.

Better yet, once USS closes down the coke works because of all the fines and fees that will be imposed on them with the new cap and trade laws there will be plenty of riverfront property available. Perhaps you would consider buying a lot.

Thank you. You've actually said it best!

SickOfAllTheComplaining wrote:

Sunshine - you must be living under a rock. I have family members/friends and very close friends of mine have family members that have worked there for years and years all residents of Glassport. And if it's so awful why didn't you take yourself out of the situation? No one was holding you hostage and forcing you to be a resident there. Here is the thing.. Everyone complains and no one does ANYTHING about it. If the situation is bad and it's not going to change.. GET OUT. Don't complain about being poor and having no where to go. If there's a will there's a way. So quit your damn cryin.

BULLY!!! I trust you will show much the same sensible attitude when the President orders the Clairton Coke Works to be demolished and ends its program of legalized chemical warefare against the people of the MonValley!

notasolution wrote:

Thank you. You've actually said it best!

AGREE!!!! C-town-gal is a VERY eloquent spokesperson.

C town gal wrote:

<quoted text> Better yet, once USS closes down the coke works because of all the fines and fees that will be imposed on them with the new cap and trade laws there will be plenty of riverfront property available. Perhaps you would consider buying a lot.

The struggle was bloody
But victory is in sight.
No more shall the coke woke
Its gas shells to rain.
Its batteries silenced,
Forever in shame!(Sung to the tune of
"To Glory We Steer")

Earth to the Marching Band. I don't want all you guys to hurt yourselves by patting yourselves on the back for singlehandedly shutting down the coke works. Remember, cap-and-trade is not in place yet and since it is being proposed by one party the other party will try to kill it. Also, there are those not in bed with USS who honestly feel that the best option is to "let it ride" regardless of how hard you try to beat them into submission. They too will join the "Kill cap-and-trade" parade. Even if C&T is passed it will be a long and winding road before the coke works can no longer afford to do business. Maybe your grandchildren will see its eventual demise, maybe not. The castle has withstood attacks for the past 40 years.

I do, however like the image of pristine beaches, parks, and leisure watercraft zipping up and down the Mon and docking at State Street.

CHS Grad wrote:

Earth to the Marching Band. I don't want all you guys to hurt yourselves by patting yourselves on the back for singlehandedly shutting down the coke works. Remember, cap-and-trade is not in place yet and since it is being proposed by one party the other party will try to kill it. Also, there are those not in bed with USS who honestly feel that the best option is to "let it ride" regardless of how hard you try to beat them into submission. They too will join the "Kill cap-and-trade" parade. Even if C&T is passed it will be a long and winding road before the coke works can no longer afford to do business. Maybe your grandchildren will see its eventual demise, maybe not. The castle has withstood attacks for the past 40 years.
I do, however like the image of pristine beaches, parks, and leisure watercraft zipping up and down the Mon and docking at State Street.

House democrats won today in a vote of 217-205 in favor of the climate change leglislation, it goes to the senate in July. The president and democratic leaders are hell bent to get this passed, republicans do not have the numbers to defeat them. It will get passed in some form sooner or later.

I don't know what the voting breakdown was but if the Dems outnumber the Repubs by 257-178 in the House, and the vote for this bill was 217-205, it was not exactly a mandate - more of a squeeker. The Senate has a 57-40 Dem majority with one still disputed seat. The Republicans have so far voted as a bloc in the Seante. Not so the Dems. Maybe it will pass, maybe not.

Sunshine wrote:

Thank you, Rasputin. Apparently you know much more than most of us do. You are absolutely right! It would be interesting to see how many employees of the ClairtonWorks are from Glassport or Clairton. I live in Glassport and know absolutely no one who works there. Something needs to be done effective immediately. It sounds like a bunch of political, bureaucratic nonsense once again. Everything is so corrupt that it is hard to fight against it anymore. I'm not a person that gives up easily, but I'm real close. Glassport and Clairton are falling apart and I still don't see anything positive. I guess their plan is to just kill us all and that will shut us up?

Sunshine your name says it all. I think that you are a positive person. One bit of advice to you from me, Don't ever give up! No matter what the circumstances or the events, don't give up! I once knew a very vibrant and fiesty woman who lived to be 91. She never ever let anything hold her back. She had the most wonderful laugh. It sounded like music to my ears. She raised a family with very little. Love was abundant though. She had a spirit like no other and she let nothing get her down. One of her children was mentally challenged, but she always made her feel like she was the most important people on the face of the planet. I admired this woman with every fiber of my being. If I could only be half the woman she was, I would totally be happy with that. That special lady was THE best person that I have ever met in my life. That lady was my granmother, and her name was Sophia. I will always be greatful that she showed me what life is truly about.

CHS Grad wrote:

Earth to the Marching Band. I don't want all you guys to hurt yourselves by patting yourselves on the back for singlehandedly shutting down the coke works. Remember, cap-and-trade is not in place yet and since it is being proposed by one party the other party will try to kill it. Also, there are those not in bed with USS who honestly feel that the best option is to "let it ride" regardless of how hard you try to beat them into submission. They too will join the "Kill cap-and-trade" parade. Even if C&T is passed it will be a long and winding road before the coke works can no longer afford to do business. Maybe your grandchildren will see its eventual demise, maybe not. The castle has withstood attacks for the past 40 years.
I do, however like the image of pristine beaches, parks, and leisure watercraft zipping up and down the Mon and docking at State Street.

Marching Band!....Hey, I like that one.

You are, of course, right....Victory is in sight, but certainly not near!

As Churchill said when fighting another Great Evil. "It is not the end or evn the beginning of the end.....but, it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

If nothing else, this would reverse a traditional policy that has kept new industries out because the emissions of an existing polluter are so high.
The attitude of "they're here; shutting them down will throw people out of work" is FINALLY being challenged.

I did NOT vote for young Mr. Obama -- but I'm starting to like the guy.