Steel mill promises to reduce dust

This story ran in the Brandywine Community News on Oct. 19, 2007.

Claymont Steel said it is improving its steel mill to reduce the amount of dust being scattered over nearby neighborhoods.

The dust, which has been falling on Claymont residents since 2003, comes from the trucks leaving the steel mill and the plant’s melt shop, said Brian Houghton, an environmental engineer at the company.

The company has paved roads around the plant, located on the Philadelphia Pike in Claymont, and Houghton told the Community News that it plans to do more paving to reduce the amount of dust raised by trucks.

The trucks bring steel scrap to the mill to be recycled and he said paving roads makes it easier to sweep up dust they raise.

“The easier it is to get this stuff picked up off the ground, the less of it there will be,” said Victor Clark, vice president of operations.

A street sweeper runs 24 hours a day to pick up dust on the plant’s paved roads and sweeps part of the Philadelphia Pike during light traffic hours.

Houghton said the company also sprays water and a dust suppressant on roads with heavy truck traffic.

“We’re constantly street sweeping and watering to keep down any kind of dust plume,” he said.
To reduce the spread of dust on the Philadelphia Pike, the company is checking all trucks leaving the plant to make sure their loads are covered.

He said a lot of the dust comes from trucks unloading in the scrap yard, where the company stores steel scrap before it is melted down.

The company plans to pave the scrap yard, if it is approved in November as part of a capital project, Clark said. A truck wash for vehicles leaving the plant is also part of the project.
Houghton said improvements are also planned for the melt shop, the other major source of dust at the mill.

In the melt shop, scrap steel is dumped into a furnace and melted down to be recycled. Houghton said dust is raised when the scrap is dumped and escapes through the vents and the monitor on the shop’s roof.

Clark said repairs to the melt shop will start on Oct. 22 and will include covering the roof vents and fixing the monitor, which, he said, should stop dust coming from the building.

If these improvements don’t solve the dust problem, Clark said the company will keep trying.
“We’re going to keep at it. We’re working toward continuous improvement,” he said. “I want our neighbors to be proud to have us as part of the community.”

Clark attended a meeting of the Claymont Dust Study Committee on Oct. 11 to discuss the improvements with the 12 people who attended. The residents raised concerns that the company is not doing enough to solve the problem and Clark asked them to be patient.

“It’s not going to happen tomorrow or next week, but we’ll get there,” he said.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has received more than 400 complaints from Claymont residents about steel dust falling on their homes since 2005, Brad Klotz, an environmental engineer with the department, said at the meeting.

The improvements are part of a dust study the company is doing to comply with an order the department issued against them in 2005.

Steel dust from the plant caused air pollution, the order said, and required the company to find ways to reduce dust.

The department will be monitoring Claymont Steel’s progress as it makes improvements to reduce dust, which Klotz said at the meeting is not a health hazard for residents.

Some residents of Claymont who have been wiping the dust off their cars for four years are hopeful the improvements will solve the problem.

“I would have liked these improvements to go faster, but the fact that Claymont Steel has come to the table is a very positive sign,” said Claymont-resident Jeanette Matinas. “I’m praying for all kinds of improvements.”

Leroy Pfarner, who lives near the mill, said the dust around his home has been overwhelming and thinks paving the plant’s roads is not enough.

“They’ve made some improvements, yes, but I think they need to get our air cleaned up,” he said. “I don’t think they’re moving fast enough with the improvements.”

George Lossé, president of the Claymont Community Coalition, said the work the company has done is a good sign, but they have a long way to go.

“When they paved the streets, that certainly improved something,” he said. “Hopefully, as they move forward, it will stop some of the dust, but as long as we get dust on our vehicles, there’s no real improvement.”

Dee Whildin, who lives near the plant, is hopeful the repairs will stop the dust that has been covering her car since 2003, but she said she’s not going to start celebrating yet.

“I hope they fix it,” she said. “The proof will be in the pudding, won’t it?”