Environmental Stewardship

Recognizing Environmental Innovation

Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection honors projects that have resulted in significant improvement in environmental performance. Two Bethlehem projects previously received the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence - the former Bethlehem Structural Products Corporation in 1995 for a waste minimization program and Pennsylvania Steel Technologies in 1996 for its Super Detox technology to reduce the cost of managing dust from an electric furnace.

For work completed in 1998, three Pennsylvania projects of Bethlehem Steel were nominated for the Governor's Award. We were recently notified that Bethlehem will receive a 1999 Governor's Award for innovative site remediation and land recycling activities associated with the development of Bethlehem Works.

A National Model for Brownfields Development

Bethlehem Works is one of the largest brownfields development projects in the United States. Bethlehem Works is located on 163 acres at the west end of the former Bethlehem plant, an 1,800-acre site which ceased iron and steelmaking operations in late 1995. Since then, Bethlehem Steel has been pursuing remediation of the property and has been marketing the land to developers interested in the project that will create a multi-use site of entertainment, recreation, cultural and retail end uses. Anchoring the complex will be the National Museum of Industrial History, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Bethlehem Steel has worked closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency to facilitate Act 2 remediation assessment and actions. Activities were designed to evaluate potential exposure to regulated substances from all potential exposure pathways, using historical and regulatory records and geological and hydrologic information. After extensive sampling and testing, Bethlehem produced a cleanup plan to eliminate any unacceptable exposure to regulated substances. This plan included both the removal and treatment of soil and use of engineering and institutional controls (deed restrictions on land use) in accordance with Act 2's site-specific standards.

In June, the EPA and Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection called the 1,800-acre site "a national model" for brownfields development. Said Timothy Fields, Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, EPA: "The agreement was reached quickly through concerted collaboration by all parties, with a minimum of red tape and procedural requirements, and a focus on what matters most - cleanup standards that ensure full protection of public health and the environment as the Bethlehem Works facility evolves to support a diverse set of new uses."

Hank Barnette addressed federal, state and Lehigh Valley government officials,
community leaders, economic development officials and environmental professionals
during a ceremony at which Bethlehem Works was designated a National Brownfields
model for site redevelopment.

Environmental and Cost Improvements at BLP

At Bethlehem Lukens Plate (BLP) in Coatesville, the Zipline (Vertical Pickle Line) Raw Material and Waste Reduction project will save $500,000 annually.

A cross-functional team of employees looked at how to reduce health and safety risks, decrease annual costs, conserve materials and resources, reduce volumes and concentrations of hazardous constituents, and lower new water use. In the first phase of the project, the direct steam injection method of heating pickling solution was replaced with a ceramic heat exchanger. As a result, spent pickle liquor generated each year dropped by 35 percent and annual acid purchases decreased by 25 percent. Other savings included significant reductions in energy, water and disposal costs.

In the second phase of the project, an acid purification unit was installed to continuously purify the pickling solution. Clean acid is then recycled back to the line. Such reuse reduced annual acid purchases and resulted in a 22-percent drop in the amount of spent pickle liquor generated. Additional benefits included improved product quality and a 50-percent reduction in exposure risks and disposal costs.

Reducing Emissions at PST

The modification of an emissions control system for use on a ladle metallurgy furnace at Pennsylvania Steel Technologies steelmaking facility in Steelton, Pa., has resulted in the capture and treatment of a half-million pounds of potential sulfur dioxide emissions.

An emissions problem was identified after the modernization of PST's steelmaking shop and the installation of a hooded control system on the new ladle metallurgy furnace.

A Hamon Research-Cottrell system, which is commonly used on boilers and similar continuous furnaces, was installed inside the waste gas duct that exhausts emissions from the ladle furnace hood. However, the removal system was originally designed to start slowly over a period of about an hour - and then run continuously for about four months.

Ladle metallurgy operations are not continuous and, therefore, require a start-and-stop system that can begin treating emissions immediately for 40 minutes of refining, then shut down for a period of about 20 minutes before restarting.

Faced with these rare demands, utilities department personnel at PST created a unique set of control strategies that allowed for the first time the use of a sulfur removal reactor on a ladle metallurgy furnace, resulting in much cleaner air and the use of substantially less electrical power.

1998/99 Environmental Report Table of Contents