Lawrenceville Steel Foundry Meets Clean Air Standards

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- For the past 150 years, most of the railroad couplers manufactured in the united state have been made at the McConway and Torley Foundry in Lawrenceville -- one of the last of vestige of our proud industrial tradition.

"We're the last steel producer in the City of Pittsburgh," said Scott Mautino.

But even though the foundry is profitable and employs 450 local workers -- it's very existence came under threat recently for alleged polluting the air with particulate.

Residents in the up and coming neighborhood, environmentalists and even Mayor Bill Peduto called on them to clean it up.

"We need to be able to have clean air in our neighborhoods," said Peduto. "The People in Lawrenceville, that live there, should be able to walk outside and breathe the same air that people in Mt. Lebanon breathe."

The county health department estimated that to comply with clean air standards, the foundry would have to cut product and jobs by more than 70 percent -- even if that meant closing the foundry for good.

"It would be a terrible thing to lose the type of environment and opportunity we provide in the city," said Mautino.

The health department believed that the foundry captured virtually none of the particulates it produced -- but since then McConway and Torley has provided tests that showed otherwise.

"The stack testing that we recently observed and late last month actually shows that the building is very efficient in collecting emissions," said Jim Thompson with the Allegheny County Health Department.

Nothing is final, but it appears a new operating permit -- which won't require drastic cutbacks -- will be issued at the end of the summer.

However, a dozen other industrial and manufacturing companies in the county will need to renew their operating permits in the coming year and will face the same scrutiny.

KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "So this debate will continue?"

Thompson: "This debate will, yeah, this will always continue.

And while it appears that McConway and Torley will avoid major cutback and layoffs, the future is not so clear for other industrial concerns throughout county.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter