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Amazon expands its perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers

SUMMARY:

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can order their blueberries and milk at the same time as basic items like batteries and T-shirts and get them within hours.

The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns including Raleigh, North Carolina; Milwaukee; and Columbus, Ohio, now have access to fresh groceries with its free same-day delivery service on orders over $25 for Prime members, with plans to reach over 2,300 cities and towns by year-end.

Amazon called the move “one of the most significant expansions” for the online retailer as it introduces thousands of perishable items into its existing network. The expansion is expected to put pressure on grocery delivery services offered by such rivals as Walmart, Kroger and Target, which all saw their shares take a hit in trading Wednesday.

Amazon’s shares rose 1%.

Amazon said that if an order doesn’t meet the minimum, members can still choose same-day delivery for a $2.99 fee. For customers without a Prime membership, the service is available with a $12.99 fee, regardless of order size.

In the past, Prime subscribers’ grocery orders were fulfilled through Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market.

Prime members pay $14.99 monthly or $139 annually.

Amazon launched its Prime membership in 2005, and it has become the gold standard for subscription services with a slew of perks including unlimited streaming with Prime Video and discounts at Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. Walmart, which launched its membership program called Walmart + in 2020, has been racing to add more benefits. It costs $12.95 per month or $98 per year. Depending on members’ location and availability, Walmart members can schedule same-day delivery for their groceries, including perishables.

“We’re continuously innovating to make grocery shopping simpler, faster, and more affordable for our customers, especially Prime members,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, in a statement. “By introducing fresh groceries into our Same-Day Delivery service, we’re creating a quick and easy experience for customers. ”

Herrington noted that customers can order milk alongside electronics; oranges, apples, and potatoes with a mystery novel; and frozen pizza at the same time as tools for their next home improvement project—and check out with one cart and have everything delivered to their doorstep within hours.

The company first tested the service in Phoenix, last year, and then added Orlando, Florida and Kansas City, Missouri, earlier this year.

Amazon noted that many of its customers were first-time Amazon grocery shoppers who now return to shop twice as often with the same-day deliver service compared to those who didn’t purchase food. It also noted that based on early sales, strawberries now regularly knock AirPods out of the top five best sellers of all products sold, while bananas, Honeycrisp apples, limes, and avocados round out the top ten best-selling perishable grocery items in their same-day delivery carts.

“It’s a nice step forward,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing and communications company. “It definitely makes them more competitive” in perishables.

Goldberg noted that Amazon has struggled to succeed in fresh food and that shoppers have been confused ordering shelf stable items and perishables, and having them appear in different carts, including Amazon Fresh. He said this move will greatly improve the experience.

Amazon said it generated over $100 billion in gross sales of groceries and household essentials last year not including sales from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh.

In June, Amazon said it was investing more than $4 billion to triple the size of its delivery network by 2026, with a focus on small towns and rural communities across the country.

It also noted that it’s using artificial intelligence to help it predict local customer preferences so it can stock popular items alongside items targeted for specific communities.

Averett plans $18.15M sale-leaseback of North Campus


SUMMARY:

  • Averett is planning an $18.15M sale-leaseback of its North
  • University must get more than 50% bondholder approval to proceed
  • Averett is in default on , although it hasn’t missed payments

is working on a sale and leaseback deal for its North Campus, which includes the private university’s E. Stuart James Grant Convocation and Athletic Center and its football, baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse fields, as well as classrooms and other facilities.

Before it can make the deal, however, Averett needs bondholders of about $15 million in debt to waive a covenant preventing the sale of the property, according to a consent solicitation statement filed by the university Monday. The bonds were taken out in 2017 to debt repayment and construction.

Convincing the bondholders to allow the sale-leaseback is part of the university’s efforts  to weather a that first came to light in summer 2024 when school leaders announced furloughs and other cost-cutting measures. In March, Averett filed a federal alleging that former Averett Chief Financial Officer Donald Aungst and an investment firm the university hired, Arizona-based Global Strategic Investment Solutions, had “surreptitiously” drained nearly $20 million from the university’s endowment to cover budget deficits.

In the filing, Averett noted that “regional investors” — which go unnamed save for the Danvile Regional Foundation — may buy the North Campus for $18.15 million if Averett is able to receive approval from at least 50% of the bondholders. With the deal, the university would receive $6.75 million at close, $6.75 million in the second year and $4.65 million in year three, according to an email from Cassie Jones, Averett’s vice president for marketing and communications. 

Averett will continue to use the property and will pay rent equal to a 4.5% annual return on the investors’ purchase price. The lease will last for 10 years, with an option to extend it for another 10-year period.

“The sale and leaseback of the Averett University E. Stuart James Grant North Campus athletic facilities provides us with additional financial flexibility as we work to position ourselves for long-term sustainability while still ensuring a seamless experience for our student-athletes and campus community,” Averett President Thomas H. Powell said in a statement to Tuesday. “This arrangement would keep the North Campus property under local control while providing support in a responsible way to a regional institution that is a major economic asset.”

Additionally, in the consent solicitation statement, Averett asks bondholders to waive “the covenant defaults with respect to the noncompliance by the university with the coverage ratio” and “the Audit Covenant Default with respect to noncompliance.”

Averett has never missed a payment on the bonds. However, the university is technically in default due to failing to comply with the debt service coverage ratio and the liquidity covenant, according to a June 27 filing by U.S. Bank Trust, a trustee of Averett’s bonds, posted on the Electronic Municipal Market Access website.

The 2017 agreement requires that Averett maintain a debt service coverage ratio of more than 1.00. For Fiscal Year 2025, Averett’s ratio was -04.46.

The university is also in default because it failed to file an official audited financial report for fiscal year 2024 by a Dec. 1 deadline. On May 30, Averett submitted a draft version of the report.

A waiver would allow the university’s auditor to issue a Final Audited Financial Statement for FY 2024 without “treating the bonds as if they were to be accelerated as current debt payable by the University in full, even though the bondholders have not accelerated the debt, or expressed any interest in accelerating the bonds to the bond trustee or the university.”

Averett noted in the filing that it was unable to file an audited financial statement with the Department of Education by a March 30 deadline. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, an institutional accreditor, also required a comprehensive report by July 15, according to the consent solicitation statement. “Failure to comply with such deadlines for the delivery of the Final Audited Financial Statements Report for Fiscal Year 2024 could have a material adverse impact on the University because of the economic resources and the oversight of the University’s operations over which DOE and SACSCOC have responsibility,” Averett stated in the filing.

In the document, the university stated that it expects to receive the consent of American Century Investment Management, a Missouri-based asset manager that holds about 25% of Averett’s bonds, to all requested consents.

The university noted in the statement that it will pay 0.25 cents per $1,000 of the principal amount of each bond to each bondholder who grants requested consents. If the university receives consent from more than 50% of bondholders, it will set up a reserve fund equal to one year’s worth of interest
payments on the bonds. Bondholders will also receive a security interest on the second and third payments the university expects to receive from the sale and leaseback transaction.

On Aug. 6, a judge ordered Averett University to hash out its differences with its former investment firm, GSIS, and the university’s former chief financial officer through arbitration. GSIS denies the allegations. Last week, Francisco E. Mundaca, the Maryland-based attorney representing Aungst, said in a statement that the former CFO may be considering his own court action over the dispute. “We are now evaluating all available remedies to protect Mr. Aungst’s reputation and hold accountable those who have damaged his distinguished 36-year career in finance,” Mundaca wrote in an email.

Virginia Chamber CEO resigns after 4 months

Cathie J. Vick has resigned as president and CEO of the after only four months on the job.

The state chamber, Virginia’s largest business advocacy organization with more than 30,000 members, will launch a national search for Vick’s successor, it said in a news release Tuesday. Vick joined the in April and was announced as its new leader in January, following the retirement of Barry DuVal, the Richmond-based chamber’s leader since 2010.

Vick has resigned to pursue other opportunities, according to the chamber, and in her stead, the chamber’s board chair and vice chair, Linda Stanley and Jennifer Siciliano, will lead the organization temporarily.

DuVal will continue as a senior consultant to the board through the end of the year as well.

Vick was previously vice president of corporate and government affairs at Transurban, one of the world’s largest operators and developers of toll roads, and she was the Port of Virginia’s chief development and public affairs officer for a decade. She also was a Virginia Chamber board member and served on its Blueprint Virginia executive committee, which produced Blueprint Virginia 2030, a long-term plan for the state.

A Virginia Chamber spokesperson said it had no comment beyond the announcement, which thanked Vick for her work. Vick did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.

CACI awarded $1.64B Transportation Command contract

Reston-based government contractor has been awarded a potential 10-year, $1.64 billion contract from the to provide technical support services for the Joint Transportation Management System (JTMS) at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

The command provides the with transportation for both people and cargo via air, land and sea.

National Defense magazine reported in 2024 that the JTMS aims to unify hundreds of fragmented transportation and financial systems across the DOD. According to the command’s website, the JTMS is a platform that integrates end-to-end transportation and financial processes for improved visibility, collaboration and auditability.

A request for proposals — posted in June 2024 on Sam.gov and updated in July of that same year — says the JTMS contract involves reengineering business processes, performing data interface and integration services, implementing a single integrated system and leveraging commercial software to conduct transportation, financial and logistical operations.

Founded in 1962, serves intelligence and defense agencies. It has more than 25,000 employees and reported $7.66 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue.

Virginia AG’s office appeals university board block

Summary

  • appeals ruling that blocked eight university board appointees from being seated
  • GMU, VMI and U.Va. board appointees were rejected by state Senate committee
  • AG argues full legislature must take action for rejections to be valid

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has appealed last month’s ruling that stopped three Virginia public universities from seating eight gubernatorial appointees who were rejected by a state Senate committee.

On July 29, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Frieden issued a preliminary injunction, ruling in favor of nine Democrats who sued the rectors of , and the to block them from seating the disputed appointees, who include former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former state Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick and others with significant conservative political and business connections.

Miyares’ petition filed Monday asks that the vacate the injunction.

Frieden said in his ruling, which arrived three days before George Mason’s board met with President Gregory Washington to discuss his job performance, that the Senate Privileges & Elections Committee has the right to speak for the entire Virginia General Assembly during special session.

He also ruled that the nullification of the lawmakers’ votes constituted “irreparable harm,” giving the senators standing to sue the rectors.

In a June meeting, the Democrat-controlled committee voted 8-4 to reject Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees for the three universities’ boards.

However, the defendants argued that the entire General Assembly has to be called to vote on the matter if the Privileges & Elections Committee wishes to reject gubernatorial appointees outside of regular session, an argument the state attorney general’s office uses in the appeal filed Monday in the Supreme Court of Virginia.

In Monday’s petition, Miyares argues that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to issue the preliminary injunction and that the plaintiffs failed to prove irreparable harm. He also argues that the injunction prevents the “orderly governance of public universities.”

The state Senate plaintiffs and their allies, though, say that Youngkin has attempted to gain control over public universities via his board appointments, and that this is in line with the Trump administration’s strategy in using the powers of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education in its attempts to push out university leaders it disagrees with.

State Sen. Scott Surovell, the Democratic Senate majority leader, said in an email Tuesday that the attorney general “strangely argues that the the General Assembly has been confirming people in the wrong way for the last 100 years, including the six years he served in the House of Delegates, and never said anything.” A hearing date has not yet been set by the state Supreme Court.

Miyares sent letters this summer to the three rectors advising them to seat the new appointees as legitimate board members — an action that Frieden mentioned in his ruling.

“Following the advice of the attorney general, the defendant rectors … have continued to recognize the rejected appointees as members of their respective governing boards,” the judge wrote. “Moreover, they intend to continue to do so.”

George Mason did not seat the disputed appointees at its Aug. 1 board meeting, and VMI and U.Va.’s boards have not met since the ruling, although their disputed members are no longer listed on their board websites.

GMU President Washington’s university is the target of four investigations by the Trump administration for allegedly engaging in illegal diversity, equity and inclusion hirings and promotions and allegedly not doing enough about on- antisemitism. He survived the Aug. 1 university board meeting with his job intact and received a 1.5% raise.

277 Virginia companies make 2025 Inc. 5000 list

SUMMARY:

  • 277 Virginia firms made the 2025 list
  • -based is the top Virginia-based company on this year’s list
  •  Akiak Technology, Black Canyon, and Terrestris also ranked among the top 200 Inc. 5000 companies

This year, 277 Virginia companies made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies, released Tuesday by Inc. magazine.

Ranking at No. 34 overall, Artemis ARC, a service-disabled, veteran-owned consulting firm for federal agencies, was the highest-ranking Virginia company on the list and the only one that came in among the top 100 companies on the Inc. 5000 this year. This marks the first year Alexandria-based Artemis ARC has appeared on the Inc. 5000. It made in the $10 million to $25 million revenue range in 2024, according to Inc.

Three other Virginia companies ranked among the top 200 companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list: Akiak Technology, an Alexandria-based, Alaskan tribal-owned IT consulting and services company, ranked No. 106, with $25 million to $50 million in revenue; Black Canyon Consulting, a , woman-owned IT , came in at No. 162, with between $50 million and $100 million in revenue; and Terrestris, an Occoquan-based federal contractor founded by a Marine, was No. 185, with $5 million to $10 million in revenue.

TheBestReputation, a Williamsburg online reputation management firm, just missed the top 200, coming in at No. 201, with revenue between $2 million and $5 million.

Artemis ARC was the No. 1 fastest-growing company in the nation for the list’s Government Services Sector businesses. Akiak Technology ranked No. 4 among all government contractors.

“Making the list as the No. 4-fastest growing Government Services Sector company doesn’t happen by accident,” Akiak Technology CEO Kevin Hamer stated in a press release. “Securing our spot in the top 500 showcases our blend of technological advancement, customer-centric approaches and adaptive business models to propel us to the forefront of the industry.”

Last year, 265 Virginia companies made the list and Ashburn IT services firm Blu Omega, a woman-owned IT consulting firm was the commonwealth’s top-ranked company, coming in at No 53. This year it ranked as No. 965. Two other Virginia companies ranked within the top 100 in 2023.

Virginia companies on the 2025 list had a median three-year growth rate of 164% and brought in $33.4 billion in total revenue. They added a total of 51,770 jobs.

North Carolina had 128 companies on the list, and Maryland had 125.

To apply to make the Inc. 5000 list, companies had to be privately held, for-profit businesses based in the United States and not a subsidiary or division of another company. They also had to generate a minimum of $100,000 in revenue in 2021 and a minimum of $2 million in 2024.

Th companies who made this year’s list generated over $300 billion in 2024 revenue, added 536,086 jobs in the past three years and posted over $177 billion in growth since 2021. Companies as large as 70,000-plus employees and as small as a single-person operation were included on the list. Akool, a California-based AI Video Generation Suite business, ranked No. 1 and made in the $25 million to $50 million range last year, according to Inc.

“The Inc. 5000 is one of the most important things we publish each year – a real-time bellwether of American business,” Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc., said in a press release. “At a moment when entrepreneurs are navigating economic uncertainty, labor shifts, and inflation, this list is powerful proof of innovation and resilience.”

Ranked by three-year average growth, these are the top 20 Virginia companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list:

34) Artemis ARC, 6,648%, consulting firm, Alexandria

106) Akiak Technology, 3,250%, IT consulting, Alexandria

162) Black Canyon Consulting, 2,439%, IT services, Fairfax County

185) Terrestris, 2,121%, government services, Occoquan

201) TheBestReputation, 1,934%, online reputation management, Williamsburg

302) Icarus Medical Innovations, 1,283%, device company, Charlottesville

367) KlariVis, 1,090%, software, Roanoke

369) Aalis Management Consulting, 1081%, consulting firm, Woodbridge

414) Bespoke Technologies, 974%, IT services and consulting, Loudoun County

435) EMT Holdings, 938%, government services, Leesburg

456) iShift, 901%, software development, McLean

470) Lithe Solutions, 875%, digital services firm, Loudoun County

472) IMBServ, 867%, maintenance and bus services company, Locust Grove

510) Wilco Group, 791%, IT services, Alexandria

523) Fortreum, 773%, IT services, Lansdowne

528) Builders + Backers, 765%, venture studio, County

529) Disruptive Solutions, 763%, IT services, Sterling

533) Foreman Technologies, 755%, , Norfolk

548) OCH Technologies, 740%, IT services and consulting, Sterling

584) BurningCastle, training services,

 

 

Atlantic Park Surf to open Saturday


SUMMARY:

  • Surf in opens Saturday with Cove tech producing up to 1,000 waves per hour
  • The lagoon is part of the $350 million Atlantic Park development with shops, dining, housing and venue.
  • will offer 55-minute sessions year-round, with hours varying according to the season

Virginia Beach-based Atlantic Park Surf, the first Wavegarden Cove Surf Lagoon on the East Coast, is set to open to the public on Saturday.

The lagoon is the centerpiece of the $350 million Atlantic Park project developed by Virginia Beach-raised music and fashion superstar and Venture Realty Group, which also includes The Dome music venue and plans for multiuse .

“Catching a wave in a surf park I have been dreaming about for 25 years was surreal — a dream come true,” said local surfer Joe LaMontagne, co-creator of Atlantic Park Surf Club, a nonprofit surf club promoting community engagement and wave access. He had a chance to ride the first wave at the lagoon during its testing period.

Wavegarden Cove powers the 2.67-acre lagoon. This energy-efficient wave-generation technology system can generate up to 1,000 waves per hour and more than 20 types of waves, ranging from one to seven feet in height and tailored to beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert surfers.

The lagoon was first mentioned in 2018 as a project spearheaded by Williams, utilizing Spanish wave-making technology that had not been previously used in the United States. However, a California surf park has since opened.

Atlantic Park sits on a 10-acre site between 18th and 20th streets that formerly housed an earlier version of The Dome. The Oceanfront development is a public-private partnership among the Virginia Beach government, the , Venture Realty Group, Pharrell Williams, , Bishard Development and Priority Title/H20 Investments, which LaMontagne founded.

The development is expected to include 100,000 square feet of restaurants and , 10,000 square feet of office space, 20 surf bungalows and about 300 apartments.

Atlantic Park Surf is slated to open Aug. 16, 2025. Photo courtesy Wavegarden and Atlantic Park Surf

Before the lagoon’s opening, a handful of surfers from across the U.S. tested the lagoon’s waves. These included former winners of the East Coast Surfing Championships and Virginia Beach’s Michael Dunphy and Blayr Barton.

“Virginia Beach is the perfect location to open our first Wavegarden Cove,” said Fernando Odriozola, Wavegarden’s chief commercial officer. “With a strong surf community and high visitation, the only thing missing was consistent waves. With Atlantic Park Surf, that’s now covered, and we’re excited to see the city and broader community thrive.”

Atlantic Park Surf will offer 55-minute sessions year-round, with hours varying according to the season. According to the release, each surfer will have the chance to catch an average of 12 waves per session and the capacity for each session ranges from 20 to 40 waves, depending on the wave profile.

Surfing rates range from $91 to $161 per session, depending on the wave profile and season. Atlantic Park Surf will also be offering a limited surf club membership.

“I know Atlantic Park will inspire more kids from the 757 to dream and do great things in the surfing industry,” LaMontagne said in a statement.

The site offers a beach club environment, featuring lounge chairs and cabanas, providing surfers with a place to relax and enjoy before or after their session. The company says non-surfers can purchase a daily beach pass to access amenities while watching the surf.

Additional components of Atlantic Park include The Dome, which opened in May, and several first-to-market retailers and restaurants that will continue opening into the fall.

The new Dome employs 209 people and has capacity for about 3,500 attendees, and OVG 360 and Live Nation operate and program The Dome.

Atlantic Park Living, a 309-apartment community managed by Drucker + Falk, has begun pre-leasing.

Blue Ridge Beverage to move Lynchburg ops to Campbell

SUMMARY:

  • to move operations to
  • Relocation and 80,000-square-foot facility expected to cost $10 million
  • Project completion targeted for December 2026, with possible future expansion

Salem-based wholesale beer, wine and nonalcoholic distributorship Blue Ridge Beverage plans to invest about $10 million to move its Lynchburg operations and 94 jobs to in .

The Campbell County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to sell about 14.6 acres in the largely county-owned industrial park to Barley Leasing, an affiliate of Blue Ridge Beverage, for $584,320. The vote included approval for the county to begin work on extending sewer and water on Ewing Drive to serve the park’s tenants. The total cost for that project is expected to be $1.2 million.

Blue Ridge Beverage plans to build an 80,000-square-foot building at Seneca Commerce Park, with an estimated price tag of about $10 million, Jacqueline Archer, the company’s president and CEO, told the board last week.

The facility will include 63,600 square feet of temperature-controlled space, a 6,400-square-foot refrigerated cooler room for draft and nonpasteurized beer and 10,000 square feet of office space. The building will be about 40 feet high and will feature six loading docks.

The plan is to have  room left over for a possible 40,000-square-foot expansion. “We’re optimistic about growing,” Archer told the board.

Blue Ridge Beverage estimates the land sale will be complete by the end of September. Balzer & Associates, a Roanoke-based architecture, engineering and surveying firm, is expected to be the company’s pick to engineer the site plan. Archer expects the process to select a general contractor will begin in November, with construction completed by December 2026.

“Our folks are plumb out of space in Lynchburg,” she said.

The Lynchburg facility, located at Forest Brook Road, currently hosts 80 sales, delivery, warehouse and administrative staffers, and 14 managers. It receives about five to seven deliveries a day and has about 20 outbound delivery routes a day.

Archer told the board that Blue Ridge Beverage makes about $275 million in annual revenue, about $50 million of that is made in its Lynchburg division, which includes 14 counties and two cities.

With more than 550 employees, Blue Ridge Beverage also has facilities in Abingdon and Waynesboro. Founded in 1938, the company has been operated by the Archer family since 1959.

In April, U.S. Rep. John McGuire, R-Goochland, and other officials attended a groundbreaking for an 100,000-square-foot industrial building that will be built at Seneca Commerce Park. An $11 million project, the building is the largest initiative undertaken by Campbell County’s Department in over a decade.

Boeing wins $883M Army cargo support contract

Arlington County-based aerospace and defense giant has been awarded an up-to-five-year $883.1 million contract from the to provide cargo engineering and support services.

The stated that the Contracting Command, based at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, solicited bids for the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract online, with one bid received. The DOD said work locations and funding will be determined with each task order. The command expects work to be completed by July 31, 2030.

Boeing posted 2024 revenue of $66.5 billion, down from $77.79 billion in 2023, but the commercial airplane unit reported 81% in revenue growth in the second quarter this year. CEO Kelly Ortberg has said he expects positive cash flow by the fourth quarter. This month, 3,200 Boeing machinists who build fighter jets in St. Louis went on strike.

Boeing’s commercial jet sector’s recent troubles continued in June when a Boeing 787 Air India jet crashed, killing 260 people. A preliminary report appeared to rule out mechanical or design error.

In July, Boeing and Alaska Airlines settled with passengers who sued for $1 billion following a midair wall-panel blowout on a 2024 flight. In May, the U.S. Justice Department and Boeing reached a deal for the company to avoid criminal prosecution over fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max planes in 2018 and 2019; Boeing will pay and invest more than $1.1 billion, including $445 million to crash victims’ families.

Explosions at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania leave 1 dead, 2 missing and multiple injured

SUMMARY:

  • Explosions at ‘s plant kill 1, injure at least 9
  • Two workers remain missing as rescue efforts continue
  • Plant has long history of pollution violations and lawsuits

CLAIRTON, Pa. (AP) — Explosions at a U.S. near left one dead, two missing and at least nine others in hospitals Monday, with emergency workers searching the badly charred rubble for victims, officials said.

The explosions sent black smoke spiralling into the midday sky in the Mon Valley, a region of the state synonymous with steel for more than a century. An Allegheny County emergency services spokesperson, Kasey Reigner, said one person died and two were currently believed to be unaccounted for. Others were treated for injuries, Reigner said.

Allegheny County Emergency Services said a fire at the plant started around 10:51 a.m. The explosions sent a shock through the community and led to officials asking residents to stay away from the scene so emergency workers could respond.

“It felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, a construction worker near the scene, told WTAE-TV. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, and shook the building, and then when we saw the dark smoke coming up from the steel mill and put two and two together, and it’s like something bad happened.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said via X that “multiple explosions” occurred at the facility.

Allegheny Health Network said it had seven patients from the explosion being treated by its hospitals. It did not provide information about the patients’ conditions. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said it is treating two patients at UPMC Mercy, the region’s only level one trauma and burn center.

Clairton residents like Amy Sowers, 49, felt an explosion nearby. Sowers, who was sitting on her porch located less than a mile from the plant, felt her house shake.

“I could see smoke from my driveway,” she said. “We heard ambulances and fire trucks from every direction.”

Sowers decided to leave the area after she said she smelled a faint smell in the air. Sowers, who grew up in Clairton, has seen several incidents at the plant over the years. Despite health concerns, Sowers said many residents cannot afford to leave.

A maintenance worker was killed in an explosion at the plant in September 2009. In July 2010, another explosion injured 14 employees and six contractors.

“Lives were lost again,” Sowers said. “How many more lives are going to have to be lost until something happens?”

Air quality concerns and health warnings

The plant, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major U.S. Steel plants in Pennsylvania that employ several thousand workers.

In a statement, U.S. Steel said an “incident” occurred at the plant’s coke oven batteries 13 and 14. The company, now a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp., said emergency teams were immediately dispatched to the scene, but it gave no other details about the cause of the explosions, casualties or damage.

The company’s CEO, David Burritt, said in the statement that U.S. Steel is working with authorities to investigate the cause.

The plant converts coal to coke, a key component in the steel-making process. To make coke, coal is baked in special ovens for hours at high temperatures to remove impurities that could otherwise weaken steel. The process creates what’s known as coke gas — made up of a lethal mix of methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Clairton Mayor Richard Lattanzi said his heart goes out to the victims of Monday’s explosions.

“The mill is such a big part of Clairton,” he said. “It’s just a sad day for Clairton.”

The Allegheny County Health Department said it is monitoring the explosions and advised residents within 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) of the plant to remain indoors, close all windows and doors, set air conditioning systems to recirculate, and avoid drawing in outside air, such as using exhaust fans. It said its monitors have not detected levels of soot or sulfur dioxide above federal standards.

According to the company, the plant produces 4.3 million tons (3.9 million metric tons) of coke annually and has approximately 1,400 workers.

The plant has a long history of pollution concerns

In recent years, the Clairton plant has been dogged by concerns about pollution. In 2019, it agreed to settle a 2017 for $8.5 million. Under the settlement, the company agreed to spend $6.5 million to reduce soot emissions and noxious odors from the Clairton coke-making facility.

The company also faced other lawsuits over pollution from the Clairton facility, including ones accusing the company of violating clean air laws after a 2018 fire damaged the facility’s sulfur pollution controls.

In February, a problem with a battery at the plant led to a “buildup of combustible material” that ignited, causing an audible “boom,” the Allegheny County Health Department said. Two workers who got material in their eyes received first aid treatment at a local hospital but were not seriously injured.

Last year, the company agreed to spend $19.5 million in equipment upgrades and $5 million on local clean air efforts and programs as part of settling a federal lawsuit filed by Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment and the Allegheny County Health Department.

The fire at the Clairton plant knocked out pollution controls at its Mon Valley plants, but U.S. Steel continued to run them anyway, environmental groups said.

The lawsuits accused the steel producer of more than 12,000 violations of its permits.

Environmental group calls for an investigation

David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, another environmental group that has sued U.S. Steel over pollution, said there needed to be “a full, independent investigation into the causes of this latest catastrophe and a re-evaluation as to whether the Clairton plant is fit to keep operating.”

In June, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel announced they had finalized a “historic partnership,” a deal that gives the U.S. government a say in some matters and comes a year and a half after the Japanese company first proposed its nearly $15 billion buyout of the iconic American steelmaker.

The pursuit by Nippon Steel for the Pittsburgh-based company was buffeted by national security concerns and presidential politics in a premier battleground state, dragging out the transaction for more than a year after U.S. Steel shareholders approved it.