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  Bethlehem Steel: Environmental Progress

Environmental Progress Reports  •   Environmental Policy  •   CERES Principles

Bethlehem Steel Corporation 1995 Environmental Progress Report

 

Profile, Policies and Objectives

Company Profile
Environmental Policy Objectives
Environmental Compliance Policy and Procedures
  Safety, Health and Environment Plan
Awards and Recognitions

Company Profile

Bethlehem Steel Corporation is the second largest integrated steel producer in the United States, with an annual raw steel production capacity of 10.5 million tons. Bethlehem employs about 18,000 people in plants located on the east coast and in the mid-west. Its Basic Steel Operations includes four main business units:

  • Burns Harbor Division (including Lackawanna Coke and Galvanized Products Divisions) (BH)
  • Sparrows Point Division (SP)
  • Bethlehem Structural Products Corporation (BSPC)
  • Pennsylvania Steel Technologies, Inc. (PST)

These business units produce a wide variety of steel mill products including hot rolled, cold rolled and coated sheets and strip, plates, structural shapes, piling, tin mill products, specialty blooms, flat bars, rail and large-diameter pipe.

Also included in Basic Steel Operations are iron ore and coal operations (which provide raw materials to Bethlehem's steelmaking facilities or sell such materials to trade customers), subsidiary railroad and trucking operations (which primarily transport raw materials and semi-finished steel products within various Bethlehem operations), and lake shipping operations (which primarily transport raw materials to the Burns Harbor Division).

Bethlehem also participates in several joint flat-rolled ventured in which it has partial interests.

Bethlehem's Steel-Related Operations include:

  • BethForge, Inc.
  • CENTEC Roll Corporation
  • BethShip, Inc.

BethForge manufactures and fabricates forged products, including forged rolls. CENTEC produces centrifugally cast rolls for the metalworking industry. BethShip repairs and services and fabricates industrial products at its ship repair yard.

Bethlehem's Environmental Policy Objectives

In maintaining and improving our environmental policies, we will:

  • develop and implement effective air and water pollution control plans and programs.
  • minimize the generation of wastes, recycle in-plant wastes and dispose of any remaining wastes in an environmentally responsible manner.
  • manufacture products that have minimal impact on the environment that are safe in their intended use and that can be recycled, reused or disposed of safely.
  • minimize safety, health and environmental risks to our employees and plant communities by using safe technologies and operating practices, and by being prepared for emergencies.
  • minimize our use of ozone-depleting and hazardous chemicals.
  • continue to employ qualified personnel to develop, implement and monitor our environmental quality control programs.
  • evaluate, on a continuing basis, the status of each business unit's compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations, and maintain business unit-specific environmental plans to address potential noncompliance situations.
  • evaluate properties being considered for divestiture or acquisition in terms of existing environmental conditions, potential risks and liabilities, and possible impacts on other environmental obligations.
  • communicate company environmental information to employees, customers, suppliers, community representatives and the public.
  • continue to work with all levels of government to develop and implement comprehensive environmental quality control programs, including fair, consistent, and scientifically sound laws, rules and regulations, and, as appropriate, challenge unscientific laws, standards and regulations.
  • conduct and fund research and development activities that seek to provide pollution-prevention and waste minimization facilities or techniques suited to steel industry processes.
  • support the research and educational objectives of the steel industry and other organizations concerned with improving environmental quality.

Environmental Compliance Policy and Procedures

We will comply with all environmental laws and regulations applicable to the conduct of our business. As a good corporate citizen, we are dedicated to the continuous improvement of the environment in which we all live.

To promote uniform understanding and consistent implementation of our policy by the business units and corporate departments, we have developed various internal guidance documents. This guidance defines "compliance" as ensuring that:

  • All environmental measures are within applicable limits.
  • All required permits have been obtained.
  • All permit conditions and government orders are complied with.
  • All reports to government agencies are accurate and timely.
  • No continuing condition of noncompliance is acceptable.
  • Satisfactory corrective action has been taken expeditiously with an expected result of continuous compliance.

Satisfactory corrective measures must result in continuous compliance. If significant harm to human health or the environment may occur, it may be necessary to curtail operations if corrective measures are inadequate. We do not intend to wait for an enforcement agency to act to compel implementation of corrective measures. Business units submit monthly compliance reports to their corporate executive.

Safety, Health and Environment Plan

Although Bethlehem Steel's environmental program is almost fifty years old, we reaffirmed our commitment to safety and health performance and to environmental compliance by issuing a comprehensive Safety, Health and Environment Plan in March 1994. The plan outlined a series of internal and external actions, which are summarized below:

  • Formation of an executive-level Council on Safety, Health and Environment, chaired by Jack Jordan, senior vice president and chief administrative officer. The council is composed of eight other corporate officers, including the presidents of Bethlehem Steel's steel business divisions.
  • Creation of a new Safety, Health and Environment Department under the direction of a new corporate officer who is also a member of the Corporate Management Committee and secretary of the council.
  • A commitment to Total Quality Environmental Management Systems at all business divisions.
  • Expansion of our corporate environmental auditing program.
  • Commitment to provide adequate personnel and resources to address existing and emerging needs.
  • Initiation of a comprehensive Environmental Awareness Training program to educate and involve all employees in continuously improving our environmental performance.
  • Establishment of clearly defined accountabilities and responsibility for safety and health performance and environmental compliance.
  • A commitment to frequent, open and positive discussions with key external stakeholders: the government, public, customers, suppliers, stockholders and the financial community.

Awards and Recognition

  • 1995 Environmental Champion Award, presented by the Environmental Protection Agency and Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering World magazines, to recognize Bethlehem Steel as one of 20 U.S. companies that had an outstanding performance in reducing toxic emissions through the EPA's 33/50 program.
  • Pennsylvania Governor's Waste Minimization Award, presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to Bethlehem Structural Products Corporation for accomplishments in preventing or reducing the generation and release of waste in 1994.
  • "Environmental Partnership Award," presented by Betz Laboratories to the Burns Harbor Division in recognition of its continuing environmental achievements and successful waste minimization efforts.
  • Reclamation Award, presented by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and West Virginia Mine Reclamation Association to Bethlehem Steel's High Power Mountain coal mining facility for reclamation of a long, steep narrow ridge through special plantings to control drainage while benefiting wildlife.
  • Harriman Award, presented by the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute, Washington, D.C., to the Philadelphia, Bethlehem and New England Railroad, one of Bethlehem Steel's subsidiary railroads, for safety performance.

Safety, Health and Environment Department
1170 Eighth Avenue, Martin Tower, 12th Floor, Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699.
For further information, send mail to [email protected]

1995 Environmental Report Table of Contents

   
 
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