CLAIRTON — Timothy Quinn, 39, and Steven Menefee were killed in an explosion at the Clairton Coke Works in August 2025. The US Department of Labor cited US Steel and MPW Industrial Services Inc. in February 2026, fining US Steel $118,214 and MPW Industrial Services Inc. $61,473 for exposing workers to unsafe conditions.

Trisha Quinn, Timothy Quinn's niece, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Nippon Steel and two other companies, alleging negligence. Steven Menefee's family also filed a lawsuit alleging negligence against Nippon Steel, MPW Industrial Services Inc, and Valves Incorporated. MPW Industrial Services Inc and Valves Incorporated were contracted for work related to the explosion.

The US Department of Labor found that US Steel failed to use required safety management and energy control practices for hazardous work involving flammable gas. US Steel stated that pressure built inside a gas valve during a cleaning operation, which caused it to fail and create a series of explosions. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board stated the cast iron valve that failed was manufactured in 1953.

Nippon Steel acquired US Steel for $14.9 billion months before the August 2025 explosion. Nippon Steel pledged $11 billion to upgrade the steel plants it acquired. However, Nippon Steel has not developed clean-fuel production at its three facilities in western Pennsylvania's Mon Valley.

"His girlfriend called me and said they couldn't find him," Trisha Quinn said. "Then I got told to contact someone in the union." She added, "Then some ladies from the company came out to my mom's house to share the news that he was deceased." "He was in there when the explosion occurred."

Timothy Quinn had worked at the Clairton Coke Works plant for 18 years as a heater monitoring the temperature at coke oven batteries, which can reach temperatures of 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Quinn's father worked at the facility for 42 years.

Nathan Mallory, a North Braddock council member, stated, "They promised investment, it was supposed to be better." He added, "Us and Clairton have the worst air quality." Mallory also said, "When you try to advocate [for the community], it's all convoluted on purpose; it protects the industry over the people."

Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, said, "The responsibility for worker deaths, and the deaths of many community residents every year from pollution-related cancer, heart disease, and lung disease is rooted in US Steel's dependence on coal-based technology, combined with a 'drive it til the wheels fall off' approach to managing this [Clairton Coke Works] facility." Mehalik also stated, "The only way to ensure a long-term, safer, cleaner future for Mon Valley workers and fenceline community members is to replace coal-based steelmaking equipment with clean, coal-free, next-generation technology in well-maintained, new processes."

The Clairton Coke Works is in Clairton, Pennsylvania, and is the largest coke production site in the western hemisphere. Steelmaking involves burning coal to make coke. Coke is moved from the Clairton Coke Works to the Edgar Thomson Works plant for steelmaking. In February 2025, two workers were injured in a separate explosion at a smokestack at the Clairton Coke Works. A maintenance worker was killed at the Clairton Coke Works following a gas leak in September 2009. Fifteen workers suffered severe burns in an explosion at a coke oven less than a year after the September 2009 incident.

US Steel had promised to spend $1 billion across its three Mon Valley Works facilities to curb pollution following a fire in 2018, but shelved the plan within two years. Asthma rates among children who live near the plants are triple the national rate. US Steel plans to open a coal-free, integrated steel mill in Arkansas, and aims to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Thousands of people live within a two-mile radius of the Edgar Thomson Works plant, which is approximately 150 years old.