AK Steel

During September there have been several new developments related to the proposed SunCoke facility in Middletown, Ohio. Several groups have invested a great amount of time and money opposing the proposed SunCoke facility. These groups are: the City of Monroe, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and SunCoke Watch.

A few weeks after Monroe filed a federal lawsuit under the Clean Air Act, SunCoke filed an application with the EPA for a more stringent New Source Review (NSR) permit to replace the minor source permit that was in dispute. On September 2nd, the Ohio EPA held a public hearing at Miami University-Middletown. Many area residents were in attendance asking serious questions about theNSR Permit. Read more »

The Ohio EPA will hold a public hearing at Miami University in Middletown on the New Source Review (NSR) Draft Permit recently issued by the EPA. The meeting will be held in Johnston Hall RM 142 on September 2nd at 6:30 p.m. The Ohio EPA will take questions and hear public testimony in regards the proposed SunCoke facility to be constructed on Yankee Road in Middletown, Ohio. Representatives from the City of Monroe and SunCoke will be attending the meeting to ask questions and submit comments in regards to the NSR draft permit. 

Recently, the Clean Air Act lawsuit filed by the City of Monroe was dismissed by the federal district court. The court did not rule on the merits of the case, but held that the ERAC appeal must go forward first. On the same day, the ERAC hearing scheduled for February was canceled because of changes to the law in regards to a new deadline structure brought about by the 2009 state budget. Cases may be heard in early 2010, but parties will only have an hour to present their cases to the ERAC commission. The details of how the ERAC process will work will be decided before the end of the year.  Read more »

On November 25th 2008 the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued a permit to allow the construction of the Sun Coke processing facility in Middletown, Ohio. The permit was issued with a stipulation that Sun Coke not begin construction until a concurring decision comes from the Federal EPA. The Federal EPA has not issued a decision in regard to this permit.  Read more »