U. S. Steel Names Lukac Plant Manager at Clairton Works

Anton Lukac has been named plant manager-Clairton Works for United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X), it was announced today by John Goodish, executive vice president-operations. The appointment becomes effective July 1, 2003.

Lukac, 43, was previously vice president of strategic implementation for U. S. Steel Kosice (USSK), U. S. Steel's steelmaking unit in the Slovak Republic. He and his family will relocate to Pittsburgh from Kosice in their native Slovak Republic.

At Clairton Works, Lukac will be responsible for managing coking and coal chemical operations at the largest and most environmentally progressive by- product coke plant in the Western Hemisphere. He will report directly to Ray Terza, who assumed general manager responsibilities earlier this month for all U. S. Steel Pittsburgh-area operations, including both Mon Valley Works and Clairton Works.

Goodish, who served as president of USSK during its first two years as a U. S. Steel subsidiary and worked closely with Lukac during that period, said, "Anton is a highly talented individual with a diverse, proven background in both operations and administration. In Central Europe, he has played a key role in our expansion efforts, including coordinating all due diligence and contract negotiations related to purchases U. S. Steel is pursuing in Poland and Serbia. His performance has been excellent in every task we've given him."

Lukac graduated from Technical University in Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 1991, he joined VSZ a.s., a diversified Slovak corporation from which U. S. Steel acquired the steel operations and related assets in November 2000 to form USSK, the largest fully integrated, flat-rolled steel producer in Central Europe.

Lukac's first years at VSZ were in the cold rolling mill, where he worked as a technologist and then as head of the microelectronic, technical development and engineering departments. From January 1993 through 1994, he was manager of a cost-saving project covering VSZ's entire steelworks. He then headed the Controlling and Financing departments. In 1996, he was appointed financial director of VSZ OCEL, a steel manufacturing company of VSZ Group.

From 1998 to 1999, Lukac served as project manager for a VSZ-U. S. Steel joint venture. Immediately prior to the formation of USSK, he was chairman of VSZ OCEL and vice president of technology for VSZ. When USSK was created in late 2000, he was named vice president for strategic implementation and reported directly to USSK's president. In that position, he was responsible for USSK's pipe and heating radiator operations, had oversight for 18 USSK domestic and foreign subsidiaries, supported regional development through the Economic Development Center, and led USSK's due diligence teams in exploring new business opportunities for U. S. Steel in Europe.

Clairton Works is located approximately 20 miles south of Pittsburgh on 392 acres along 3.3 miles of the west bank of the Monongahela River. The plant -- originally a steelmaking operation -- was built by St. Clair Steel Company in 1901 and bought by U. S. Steel in 1904. The first coking batteries were built in 1918. Today, Clairton Works operates 12 coke batteries having nearly 1,000 ovens, and employs about 1,500.

The coke produced at Clairton Works is used in the blast furnace operations in the production of molten iron for steel making. Approximately 30 percent of the 4.5 million tons of coke produced last year at Clairton Works was consumed by U. S. Steel facilities with the remainder sold to other domestic steel producers.

Clairton Works was the first coke plant in the world to achieve certification to the ISO 14001 standard, a stringent, international standard used to measure facilities' environmental management systems. In 2002, Clairton Works became a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Environmental Performance Track, a voluntary leadership program developed by the EPA to honor outstanding environmental performers. The plant has also received a number of other environmental awards including EPA's Green Lights Program "Partner of the Year," the Allegheny County Health Department Enviro-Star Award, the Pennsylvania Governor's Waste Minimization Award and the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.

SOURCE: United States Steel Corporation

CONTACT: Mike Dixon or John Armstrong, United States Steel Corporation,
+1-412-433-6870

Web site: http://www.ussteel.com/

Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/929150.html