Nature

Managing Nature at U. S. Steel
Water, air and biodiversity are among nature’s most precious gifts. Protecting them around all our facilities and nearby communities is one of our highest priorities. We manage and interact with nature by doing the following:
Water
Throughout our operations, we re cycle water for reuse in cooling and processing. In that way, and through a range of water conservation practices, we are continually reducing the amount of water brought into plants, thus reducing our footprint on local ecosystems and communities. Not only are our investments in water protection lowering the amount of water used per ton of steel produced, but we also have been working at some facilities to lower the concentrations of metals in the water we discharge and reduce the amount of waste water filter cake sent to landfills. The Granite City Works facility made improvements to their water filtration system by ensuring the water used for cleaning is now shut off on down days and replacing a leaking heat exchanger and bad valve that were allowing water to go to the sewer instead of being recycled. These efforts resulted in 47.6 million gallons of city water savings in 2024 compared to 2023 — a 37% reduction. 
Air
We are working to continuously improve the air quality associated with our operations. Even as air quality regulations become more stringent, we strive for 100% compliance with all federal, state and local agencies’ rules, regulations and permit conditions. In 2021, we set a goal to reduce corporate nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions intensity by 10% by 2030 compared with our 2018 baseline. That goal amounts to cutting intensity by 174 net tons per million metric tons of crude steel produced. In 2024, our absolute NOx emissions intensity was 1,824 NOx net tons per million metric tons of crude steel produced. Steel production decreased, which resulted in a slight decrease of our NOx intensity as compared to 2023 
Biodiversity
We are dedicated to respecting protected and conserved areas, and we will continue to manage potential adverse impacts on biodiversity. We published our 2024 TNFD Report and continued to follow the Biodiversity Management Plan developed in 2022 to manage biodiversity risks and adverse impacts at U. S. Steel’s Big River Steel Works. USSK also developed a Biodiversity Management Plan in 2024. Our environmental staff and biodiversity programs monitor our properties and designated mitigation areas to identify risks and ensure that our efforts to protect biodiversity are effective. 

A Peek into Our Biodiversity Performance

Water (Megaliters)

Total withdrawal*

2022 2023 2024
1,205,351 1,162,339 1,123,385

 Total recycled

2022 2023 2024
877,057 876,053 858,659

Total discharged**

2022 2023 2024
997,549 1,011,067 1,035,806

Total consumption

2022 2023 2024
207,802 151,272 105,593

* 2023 total withdrawal does not include potable from the Irving and Edgar Thomson plants.

** 2023 total discharge does not include sanitary from Edgar Thomson.

Air Emissions (U. S. Tons)

NOx

2022 2023 2024
25,754 26,639 25,938

SO2

2022 2023 2024
10,105 10,631 9,043

VOC

2022 2023 2024
1,320 1,425 1,629

CO

2022 2023 2024
154,143 164,345 165,391

Lead

2022 2023 2024
1.37 1.38 1.12

PM10*

2022 2023 2024
8,306 7,714 7,409

PM2.5*

2022 2023 2024
6,571 6,365 5,970
* PM10 and PM2.5 for Košice based on average PM10/PM and PM2.5/PM ratio for other U. S. Steel sites.

Sustain X Project Submissions 

Our SteelSUSTAINABILITY ERG launched the Sustain X program in 2024 to encourage employees to come up with innovative sustainability projects. Employees across all facilities are encouraged to submit their project ideas, with SteelSUSTAINABILITY providing a total of $12,500 to complete the winning projects. 
 

Our Biodiversity Stories

Flight of the eaglet

In July 2024, a young bald eagle named Lucky launched itself from a tree branch into its first flight — thrilling the eaglet’s more than 2 million fans. 
 
Lucky is the most recent star of the eagle family that nests at U. S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Cameras near the nest have provided a live video feed of the family’s activities after the original eagle couple, Claire and Irvin, first took up residence there in 2013. Lucky was the pair’s seventh eaglet to be hatched there.  
 
Lucky — whose name had been picked in a fundraising contest cosponsored by U. S. Steel and the Tamarack Wildlife Center — was 77 days old at the time of that first flight. The event was marked by a spate of media coverage in the Pittsburgh area, calling attention to the plant’s wildlife-protection efforts. 

Planting trees
Trees bring cooling shade, improve air quality and protect soil and biodiversity. In projects organized by the SteelSUSTAINABILITY ERG at our Mon Valley Works, in partnership with Tree Pittsburgh, employee volunteers helped plant trees on behalf of local communities in 2024. And in October, employees planted 40 bald cypress, chinkapin oak and swamp white oak trees at a popular park in West Mifflin near our Irvin Plant.  
 
Also in 2024, we continued to support the Arbor Day Foundation. According to the foundation, U. S. Steel’s support has led to the planting of 4,630 new trees, which will lead to sequestering an estimated 2,480 metric tons of CO2, avoiding 352,074 gallons of water runoff and removing 12 tons of air pollutants. Big River Steel Works’ Environmental Department planted trees on Arbor Day in collaboration with the Osceola (Arkansas) Parks and Recreation Department. 
 
Big River Steel Works also planted 54 trees to mark the 54th anniversary of Earth Day. And USSK managers planted linden trees in April 2024 along the driveway of the main U. S. Steel facility — adding to the 2,500 poplar, beech and linden trees USSK had already planted in the area in 2024. 
Employee Spotlight – Dr. Melani Cheers
Dr. Melani Cheers, Corporate Medical Director, has been with U. S. Steel for eight years and is Vice President of the SteelSUSTAINABILITY ERG. In 2024, Dr. Cheers organized U. S. Steel volunteer efforts in the community, volunteering over 100 hours of her time. One of these efforts took place in the spring, when employee volunteers planted 10 large trees around the school with students at Clairton Elementary and began a two-part planting project with students from the Braddock Youth Project in Braddock, Pennsylvania. In the fall, Dr. Cheers and other SteelSUSTAINABILITY members returned to Braddock to plant multiple fruit trees and shrubs to expand the community orchard managed by Braddock Youth Project students. SteelSUSTAINABILITY also planted 40 large trees with Tree Pittsburgh and Landforce at Kansas Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and more than 100 trees along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail with Friends of the Riverfront. 
 

“Improving the health, safety and well-being of our employees and students in our region through community engagement brings me great joy.” – Dr. Melani Cheers 

Teaming up with the Penguins

In October 2024, members of U. S. Steel’s Corporate Communications and Executive Assistant teams participated in a volunteer event organized by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Friends of the Riverfront. The volunteers helped pick up litter and clear brush and weeds along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail by the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh. The event was part of our commitment to the Penguins Pledge, which aims to improve social, economic and environmental sustainability in the Pittsburgh area. 

Conserving National Park wetlands
In July 2024, U. S. Steel members from the Gary Works Environmental team visited the occupied wetlands on shared U. S. Steel and Indiana Dunes National Park property in Miller Woods. They were joined by partners from the National Park and Save the Dunes to check out the current conditions of the wetlands and access points. U. S. Steel provided $25,000 in funding to treat the invasive species in the shared wetlands, a crucial and beneficial step toward protecting the high-quality National Park habitat next door. 
Biodiversity at USSK

USSK adopted a Biodiversity Management Plan with a goal of ensuring awareness of the importance of biodiversity and of taking steps for its protection. Among the principles promoted by the plan are sustainable use, forest management, protection of aquatic and water-related habitats and mitigation of the negative impact of invasive plant species. Biodiversity efforts undertaken in 2024 included an initial monitoring of birds in selected locations and the planting of 3,200 trees around the facility to protect against dust. 

Remediation at Spirit Lake in Duluth finalized
U. S. Steel and the U.S. EPA Region V Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) recently celebrated the completion of a $186 million cost-sharing partnership for the remediation and restoration of the Spirit Lake area in the St. Louis River. The site is adjacent to the former Duluth Works in the Morgan Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota. An event was held in July 2024 to mark the occasion and officially open the more than 20 acres of newly constructed recreation al amenities and the 2.2 miles of new pedestrian trails at the site. The project aimed to address chemicals of concern in the sediment of an on-site creek and the St. Louis River, with work beginning in 2020 and continuing throughout 2023. In total, 1.3 million cubic yards of impacted material were remediated. Some 460,000 cubic yards of sediment were dredged and placed into two newly built disposal facilities at the site, and protective caps were placed over 96 acres of aquatic habitat. The project resulted in extensive restoration and habitat enhancement, including creating a new shallow sheltered bay for fish spawning habitat. 
 
“U. S. Steel is excited to join the EPA and our local partners in celebrating the official opening of the new recreational amenities along the Spirit Lake project site on the St. Louis River. The significant environmental improvements to the St. Louis River Estuary and the former site of Duluth Works were made possible only by the collaboration and perseverance of the project partners. The area will provide an environmentally engaging space for years to come.” 
 
– Mark Rupnow, Senior Director of Environmental Remediation 

Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)

U. S. Steel published our inaugural 2024 TNFD Report. The report includes a qualitative assessment of potential nature-related impacts and dependencies, as well as an evaluation of key nature-related risks and opportunities across our direct operations. Through this qualitative assessment, which included a series of six interviews covering 10 sites with our Environmental Department team members, we were able to identify key nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities that will guide our prioritization of mitigation strategies and associated financial investments as we continue leveraging publicly available nature and biodiversity tools.  

Asset Publisher

The following U. S. Steel sites were evaluated in the 2024 nature assessment:

US map Europe map
Mining Operations Minnesota Ore Operations: Keetac, Minntac
Steel Manufacturing Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs): Big River Steel, Big River Steel 2 and Fairfield Works Blast Furnaces (BFs): Gary Works; Mon Valley Works: Clairton Plant, Edgar Thomson Plant, Irvin Plant, Fairless Plant; and U. S. Steel Košice (USSK)
Finishing Facilities Great Lakes Works, Granite City Works and Duluth Works (closed)