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myironcity t1_iu6dfs9 wrote

Ask and you shall receive. They are closing 3 coke batteries in 2023. Article from Next Pittsburgh https://go.shr.lc/3eGFzok

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rhb4n8 OP t1_iu6fczr wrote

I'd rather they replace it with a more modern solution. I also find it wild that they get to continue at the current pollution level for another year potentially while they continue to polute at an actual dangerous level. When my car can't pass emissions I don't get to just keep driving it.

That all said I'm glad there might be some Improvement in the future

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UnaffiliatedOpinion t1_iu6o4fp wrote

It is the old saying: "If you owe the bank a thousand dollars, it's your problem. If you owe the bank millions of dollars, it's the bank's problem." If the government forces US Steel to shut down the plant (even temporarily), there will be major backlash against the public officials who made it happen. The advertisements will write themselves, all they need is some B-roll of a struggling working class family who "had honest work until the government took that away from them." The companies hold all the power in this relationship.

On the other hand, nobody is going to make a super PAC to allow you to drive an out-of-spec car.

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rhb4n8 OP t1_iu6qhiq wrote

I mean in a better world they would be forced to reinvest in the plant at threat of bankruptcy. It's lunacy that a 70 year old coke battery is allowed to run without regular reconditioning and meeting pollution controls. They should have to fully fund the pension and retire anyone who gets fucked over by their being cheap

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NathanLocke t1_iu9ysqx wrote

Coke plants are closing because scrap is now the preferred and more cost effective method.

A coke plant near us announced they were closing and it came as a shock, even to the employees. They had recently invested $300 million in the plant.

People lived all over Western Pennsylvania when the steel mills and chemical and coke plants were belching pollution and most of them lived to ripe old ages.

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VespiWalsh t1_iu7hzgt wrote

They said early 2023 in their official statement. So not much longer now.

Also I would rather see the place imploded and US Steel forced to pay reparations to people who were forced to deal with this pollution our entire lives. I have no compassion for the people who work there, they choose greed over morality, no one held a gun to their heads and made them to work there, they choose their own path, and are usually complicit in spreading propaganda that makes the plant sound safer than it is to the misinformed. Zero sympathy for ecofascists and their sympathizers.

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NathanLocke t1_iu9yxek wrote

I have no sympathy for people who chose to live there. Why didn't they move?

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VespiWalsh t1_iua0ef3 wrote

LMAO did you just ask why an impoverished Mon Valley family can't move?

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