(File Photo: Source for Photo: The Clairton Coke Works, a U.S. Steel coking plant, is seen Tuesday, Aug 12, 2025, in Clairton, Penn. (Sean Stipp/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Clairton, PA) Today is the day that U.S. Steel will start to get rid of the coke from Batteries 13 and 14 from the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works plant in Clairton because of the explosion that occurred there on August 11th, 2025. This explosion injured at least ten people and killed fifty-two-year-old Steven Menefee of Clairton and thirty-nine-year-old Timothy Quinn of Fitz Henry of Westmoreland County. According to officials, without placing the batteries on hot idle, they would not be able to function again. A few days is how long the process will take and no production or cooking will result from the process of this coke removal. Officials also are not expecting any non-particulate pollution that is elevated as a result of this removal of coke.