Super-clean air is always welcome in an industrial area-but bread and butter are prime necusities That apparently was the thinking, in part, of the Environmental Protection Agency in deciding to permit U.S. Steel Corpr to delay air pollution count for three years and to divert the savings lnto new mill equipment, EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch said the move would free an estimated $90 mllllon that had been required to meet the current compliance date of Dec, 31. The decision doesnt eliminate the obligation but would allow U.S. Steel to “slretch it oul,” after details are negotiated, channeling the money into productivity improvements. Coming at a time when the depressed steel industry ls operating at only about hall-capacity. the EPA concession is timely and appropriate. The nalion’s fourth-largest industry. steel has been hard-hit by the recession and loreign imports. Nearly a third, of 100,0tIl of its blue collar workers. are idle. U.S. Steel Corp. Chairman David Rodgericlt said steel shipments are at their lowest level in 40 years. Bethlehem Steel Corp., the nation’s second-ranked sleelniaker. recently cut salaries and benelits of 21,000 whitenollar workers in a move imed at saving that troubled comPwl’ W million a year. &Qilehem lost H13! million for the first half of ll!. The air pollution controls delay granted U.S. Steel Corp. would apply to the Gary Works in Indiana, Lorain Works in Ohio. South Works in Chicago, Fairleas Works near Philadelphia, and plants in the Mouongahela Valley in Pennrylvania. it doa not affect Geneva Works in Utah which currently is lilling requirements of a coment decree to ftnlsh environmental improvements by Dec. 31. Air pollution is a worthy goal but it can impose heavy bladens on industry. ltttftlcttlarly when times are bad. For Monongahela Valley alone, U.S. Steel has agreed to install an estimated $400 million worth of controls. The $90 mtlllon “stretchout” may he only a small step in assisting in the steel crisis. But the fact that a year-old amendment tothe Clean Air Act permits such a step on a bucby-ease basis when conditions warrant, ls commendable. Jobs and payrolls are necessary elemmts in the fabric of a strong economy and healthy indtmtrles should be a prime goal always.