For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

BETHLEHEM, Pa., October 31, 1997 -- The reduction of emissions from three Bethlehem Steel Corporation coke plants has earned the steelmaker inclusion in the Environmental Protection Agency's 33/50 Program Success Stories.

Bethlehem Steel was a participant in EPA's voluntary emission-reduction program known as 33/50 since the program's inception in 1991. The program called for reducing seventeen types of chemical emissions (from a 1988 baseline) 33 percent through 1992 and 50 percent through 1995. Bethlehem made a commitment to meet and exceed the EPA challenge.

EPA's Success Story about Bethlehem Steel describes the steelmaker's efforts to control three chemicals -- benzene, toluene and xylene -- at its coke ovens at Bethlehem, Pa., Burns Harbor, Ind., and Lackawanna, N.Y. These chemicals, in the form of vapors, are by-products of the coking process to convert bituminous coal into coke for use in blast furnaces.

Capital expenditures and employee training and awareness resulted in a 95-percent reduction from the 1988 baseline figures through the completion of the program. Between 1988 and 1992, Bethlehem Steel reduced the ten 33/50 toxic chemicals generated at its operations by 70 percent, from 5.4 million pounds to 1.6 million pounds. This reduction not only surpassed EPA's 1995 50-percent target, but did so by 1992, three years ahead of schedule. By 1995, the last year of the program, Bethlehem Steel achieved an 88-percent reduction of the ten targeted chemicals, which includes the three coke oven by-products. As a result of this performance, Bethlehem Steel was recognized by the EPA in 1996 as one of the 20 "environmental champions" for achieving and exceeding the 33/50 Program goals.

Success Stories was developed by the EPA to share the results of pollution prevention efforts with other companies. The profile of Bethlehem Steel's efforts and those of other 33/50 Program participants can be obtained from the EPA's web site at www.epa.gov/opptintr/3350 or by contacting David Sarokin, director of the 33/50 Program at (202) 260-6396.