The Clean Machine

Most steel mills are heavy polluters of air and water. So the residents of Baytown, Texas, were understandably aghast when U.S. Steel acquired 15,000 acres for a new plant right next to Cedar Bayou, a valued local fish and wildlife refuge. Now the new plant, known as Texas Works, has been officially opened after six months of operation at one-third capacity. To the delight of all, it appears to be a model of enlightened industry--the first steel mill ever to make an effort to be clean clear through.

Texas Works has only two smokestacks, and these emit almost no smoke. The two giant 200-ton furnaces are fueled by a careful mixture of natural gas and air that is almost smokeless, and 25,000-h.p. fans blow the few exhaust fumes through a cooling water spray that removes all solid particles. The ultimate discharge from the stacks is made up of relatively equal parts of warm oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Biting Bass. Water pollution has been handled even more impressively. To cool and treat its steel, the plant needs 150 million gallons of water a day, which is roughly the same amount used daily by all of nearby Houston. To cut that volume, filtration and cooling systems recycle the water for re-use 15 different times. Thus only 10 million new gallons are actually needed each day.

Half of that is used to replace evaporated water; the other 5 million gallons are filtered, cooled and drained off into the bayou. But even that water, boasts Mill Superintendent Harry Spitz, is cleaner than when it first comes into the plant--50 parts per million of various undissolved solids v. 150 p.p.m. in the original water supply. Sludge is removed from the water daily, is treated with thickeners and used as landfill.

Such environmental care was not cheap. U.S. Steel says that at least 10% of the estimated $100 million capital outlay for Texas Works went into pollution controls. To install such complete controls in older plants, the company adds, would be prohibitively expensive. Though local conservationists are pleased, they are waiting to see if full production and long-term activity cause unforeseen problems. Meanwhile, bass fishing is still good in the bayou, and U.S. Steel appears to have demonstrated that industry may no longer be able to say that it can't be done.

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