Bethlehem's Environmental Achievement Awards
Bethlehem Steel presented its second annual Excellence in Environmental Achievement Awards in the fall of 1996 to 10 teams from eight business divisions for projects that helped achieve environmental goals. Grants of $2,000 from the Bethlehem Steel Foundation were presented on behalf of the teams to eight local environmental organizations.
BethEnergy, High Power Mountain: Setting a Model for the Mining Industry
Since 1985, High Power Mountain, a joint mining project involving Bethlehem Steel and High Power Energy, has processed about 25 million tons of coal. To mine that coal, however, HPM had to move more than 200 million tons of overburden, such as soil and rock, and reclaim the mined areas. This earthmoving, equal to what was moved to build the Panama Canal, was done under federal and state guidelines and involved a number of innovative environmental solutions. As a result of the management of this project, the HPM site has become a model of land/mine reclamation for the mining industry and a site for future development.
BethForge: Coolant Fluid Team Cuts Odor, Reduces Fluid Changes and Saves Money
BethForge's #3 Forge Shop showed that making environmental improvements can go hand-in-hand with cost savings and product quality improvements. The #3 Forge team investigated and changed grinding coolant fluids to eliminate odors and reduce the need to change fluid. Switching to a synthetic coolant accomplished both goals with the added benefit of reducing the amount of fluid that needed to be added between changes. The team also helped design (with the filter manufacturer) an improved coolant filter system that reduces grinding wheel wear, improves product surface quality and permits servicing of two grinders at the same time. The annual cost savings is estimated to be $50,000.
The team donated its $2,000 grant to the Burnside Plantation, Bethlehem, Pa., to protect the Monocacy Creek.
Structural Products: Team Builds System to Handle Residual Waste
A team of riggers, electricians and operators from Bethlehem Structural Products Corporation successfully built a new system to screen and load about 80,000 tons of BethFume dust, a residual waste, onto container trucks for shipping as a co-product to a customer. Despite adverse weather conditions and equipment problems, the team completed the system in time to meet the customer's production deadline. By completing this project, the team will save Bethlehem Steel about $50 per ton through sales and eliminate the need to send the materials to a landfill.
The team donated its $2,000 grant to the Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary and Wilderness Trust, Williams Township, Pa., for support of regional environmental programs.
Burns Harbor: BOF Gas Cleaning Team Reduces Stack Exceedances and Incidents
At Burns Harbor, the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) Shop complies with environmental regulations by cleaning its off-gases with wet scrubbing systems that become increasingly more difficult to maintain as the time between vessel relines is extended. The BOF Gas Cleaning/Hood Operating/Maintenance Section began addressing the need to improve performance in 1995 in a partnership of union and management. The partnership developed new maintenance practices and improved operations to cope with extended vessel life and to meet government New Source Performance Standards. These efforts reduced environmental stack exceedances/incidents by 66 percent in 1995 (versus 1994) and demonstrated a 94-percent reduction through the third quarter of 1996.
The team donated its $2,000 grant to the Miller Chapter, Izaak Walton League of America, Portage, Ind., for support of regional environmental programs.
Burns Harbor: Coal Chemical Team Reduces Wash Oil Use and Ends Off-Site Disposal
By recycling, reducing wash oil use and ending off-site disposal of a hazardous waste, the Burns Harbor coal chemical unit cut wash oil consumption about 70 percent, eliminated waste disposal costs and reduced operating expenses. Wash oil becomes contaminated in a final cooler process that removes naphthalene from coke oven gas. Under the old system, wash oil was drained from the final coolers and disposed of off-site at a hazardous waste facility. Today, an oil emulsifier enhances separation of gas condensate and sludge from the oil, a series of separators decant the oil, and a purifier distills the oil. Oil wastes removed in this process are now recycled along with tar decanter sludge into the coal used in the coke oven batteries to make coke.
The team donated its $2,000 grant to the Porter County Parks Foundation, Inc., Valparaiso, Ind., for the continued development of Sunset Hill County Park.
CENTEC: Waste Minimization Team Reduces Hazardous Waste
The CENTEC waste minimization team achieved one of the lowest rates of hazardous waste produced (0.072 pounds) per ton of product in the entire steel industry through pollution prevention and waste minimization. These efforts included recycling, substituting nonhazardous materials and selling co-products. The recycled materials and co-products included scrap, sand, metal, grinding swarf, pit debris and wood. Substitute materials included nonhazardous water-soluble coolants.
The team donated its $2,000 award to the Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museums, Inc., Easton, Pa., for support of regional environmental programs.
Pennsylvania Steel Technologies: Oil Recycling Team Realizes Reduced Waste and Fuel Cost
This team's resourcefulness developed a program of recycling used oil into a supplemental fuel for the plant. The team developed a procedure for acquiring oils skimmed from water treatment facilities, used quench oil, used lube and hydraulic oils. These oils were then blended with Number 6 fuel oil to fire the plant's reheat furnaces and boilers rather than disposing of them as waste. In 1995, 125,000 gallons of used oils were recycled.
The team donated its $2,000 award to the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, Millersburg, Pa., for public education about nature, art and the environment.
Pennsylvania Steel Technologies: 20” Mill Flood Clean-up Team Averts Oil Pollution
During the winter of 1995-96, Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River, swollen from heavy rain and ice jams, rose suddenly and inundated the 20” Rolling Mill. Knowing that such flooding is always a possibility, this 20” Mill Team closed the mill's lube rooms and oil cellars to prevent oil and debris from being carried to the river with the receding flood waters. After the flood receded, the team expeditiously cleaned up to enable the mill to return to operation as quickly as possible. This team has established a reputation over the years for seeking and implementing environmental procedures that are safe and that comply with regulations.
The team donated its $2,000 award to the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, Millersburg, Pa., for public education about nature, art and the environment.
Sparrows Point: Mobile Dredging Team Prevents Major Spill to Chesapeake Bay
In response to a reported spill of Number 6 fuel oil at an outfall to the Chesapeake Bay, a mobile dredging team quickly contained the spill, began cleanup and searched for the source of the spill. The team found that a failed gasket on a fuel oil pump in the basement of the plant power station had leaked several hundred gallons of oil into the basement drain and sump system, which was pumping to the outfall. The cleanup became even more complicated because the sump could not be shut off — it was simultaneously handling a large water leak. The team deployed its equipment and absorbent material at the outfall to begin cleanup there. Meanwhile, in the power station's basement, another part of the team worked through the night to pressure-wash walls, floors and drains while skimming oil from the sump to prevent additional oil from being pumped to the outfall. Later, the team had to respond quickly again when another pump began to leak. The team's prompt and persistent action prevented a major spill into the Chesapeake Bay.
The team donated its $2,000 award to Sparrows Point High School, Baltimore, Md., for its environmental science program.
Subsidiary Railroads (South Buffalo): Prompt Action Stems Oil Seepage to River and Wins Praise from the U.S. Coast Guard
During a facility inspection, the N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation spotted an oil sheen on Smokes Creek and traced it upstream to a site once used to fuel locomotives and now used to store Number 1 fuel oil. The U.S. Coast Guard placed a containment boom around the sheen. When they were informed of the oil sheen, two employees took it upon themselves to look for a potential source. They pressure-tested piping at the fuel station but it proved sound. Then they had the area dug up with a backhoe and found the source of the leaching — a pool of oil under the tank's concrete containment. They pumped this oil into a tank to prevent further leaching and began cleanup. As a result of their efforts and the relationship they developed with the regulatory agencies, the railroad was commended by the Coast Guard for its “prompt response.”
The team donated its $2,000 award to the Buffalo and Erie Counties Botanical Garden Society, Inc., for the Lackawanna South Buffalo portion of Erie County, N.Y.
Safety, Health and Environment Department
1170 Eighth Avenue, Martin Tower, 12th Floor, Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699.
For further information, send mail to [email protected]
1996 Environmental Report Table of Contents
