In Response to the Toxic 100 Ranking Developed by the Political Economy Research Institute

U.S. Steel response to “Toxic 100” ranking

29 April 2008

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited U.S. Steel to respond to its ranking among the top 10 companies on the “Toxic 100” list published by the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst (USA), available at:

U.S. Steel provided the following statement:

“In response to the “Toxic 100” ranking developed by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), the following points should be noted when considering the validity of the study and the conclusions presented.

First,not all sources are required to report Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. Industries subject to TRI are defined by sectors based on standard industry classification codes. Only certain defined sectors are required to report TRI data. The PERI ranking based solely on TRI data is incomplete, and therefore misleading.

In addition, TRI data reported to the U. S. EPA includes values for both chemical “releases” (discharges to air, water, and land) and chemical waste “management” (treatment, energy recovery, and recycling). The 2006 Sector Strategies Performance Report published by the EPA provides insight into the 2003 TRI results for the iron and steel sector. The report states that 62% of the reported release quantity for the 82 facilities reporting was managed and not released to the environment. Furthermore, 96% of the “released” remainder was disposed or placed in permitted landfills, resulting in only 1.5% of the original total actually released to air and water. Allowances for such releases to air and water are provided through regulatory agency permits. Therefore, only a small portion of the chemical amounts reported in the TRI are actually released into the environment after consideration of waste management and agency permitted landfill disposal. The PERI analyses does not take this distinction into accountand resultantly makes an inaccurate conclusion.

Finally, Transtar Autobody TechnologiesInc. (listed by PERI as a U. S. Steel facility) is not affiliated with United States Steel Corporation or Transtar Inc., a transportation subsidiary of U. S. Steel. As a result this facility should not be included in evaluation of U. S. Steel.

United States Steel Corporation is committed to continuous improvement to the environment through responsible management of operations along with research and development in pursuit of cleaner technologies for the future. Between 2005 and 2007, U. S. Steel has spent $1.2 billion on environmental improvements and operation of environmental controls. It is anticipated that U. S. Steel will spend $139 million on environmental capital projects in 2008.”