Pinnacle is a major supplier of coking coal to the Clairton Coke Works (Clairton) and was forced to declare force majeure under a coal supply agreement. The company has been unable to consistently purchase the quantity and quality of coking coal necessary to support full coke operations.

As a result, U. S. Steel has been compelled to reduce coke operations and declare force majeure under its coke sales agreements from Clairton, and shipments from Clairton have temporarily and proportionally been reduced for both internal and external customers of coke until the situation can be resolved.

U. S. Steel is attempting to replace this lost volume of coking coal from other sources at current market prices, which are higher than the contract price from the original supplier.