United States Steel Mon Valley Works was honored by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell as one of 12 winners of the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works comprises four operating plants, all in Pennsylvania. The Clairton plant, located along the Monongahela River, is the largest coke plant in North America. In addition to producing approximately 12,000-tons-per-day of metallurgical grade coke, the by-products recovery plant produces coke-oven gas for use as a fuel, coal tar, light oil, anhydrous ammonia and elemental sulfur.

Through plant infrastructure modernization, U.S. Steel took measures to reduce plant steam consumption. Reducing coke-oven gas consumption on the boilers allows for the coke-oven gas to be used at other U.S. Steel facilities that were consuming natural gas, thus reducing the total amount of gaseous fuel used by the company for combustion.

With these measures in place, U.S. Steel has reduced greenhouse gases and improved air quality with a reduction of nearly 13,000-tons-per-year of carbon dioxide, 13.7-tons-per-year of nitrogen oxide and 1.2-tons-per-year of sulfur dioxide emissions. Total steam reduction achieved plant-wide was 18,000-pounds-per-hour, which is saving the company $1.5 million each year.

The Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence honors Pennsylvania businesses and organizations that put in place projects that tackle environmental problems and help build new businesses, enhance the bottom line and engage residents in a renewed commitment to investing in their communities.

U.S. Steel’s efforts to reduce energy costs through conservation, better environmental controls and use of alternative fuels showcase many of the benefits of Governor Rendell’s Energy Independence Strategy. The plan will invest $850 million to cut consumer energy costs by $10 billion over the next decade, stabilize electricity rates for businesses, significantly expand Pennsylvania’s alternative fuel and clean energy industries and reduce dependence on foreign oil.