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Monroe won’t relent on coke plant fight

City Council to appeal dismissal of lawsuit in federal court.

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By Denise Wilson, Staff Writer Updated 2:27 AM Thursday, September 10, 2009

MONROE — The city of Monroe is not backing down in its fight to block a proposed $340 million coke plant in Middletown near its border.

Monroe City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday, Sept. 8, to appeal the dismissal of the city’s Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit in federal court against Middletown Coke Company and its parent entity, SunCoke Energy.

The lawsuit was dismissed Aug. 20 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.

Monroe Law Director K. Philip Callahan declined comment and directed all inquires about the city’s intentions to appeal the ruling to its legal counsel, Christopher Walker, who said the city has decided to appeal the ruling because the case was dismissed on the basis of abstention.

“The U.S. District Court did not rule on the merits of our case, but rather ruled that it did not want to interfere with the pending appeal before the Environmental Review Appeals Commission. We’ve reviewed the decision and we believe it’s in error, and we think it’s appropriate to take it on appeal,” he said.

The lawsuit contended that SunCoke did not have the proper permits to construct its coke and electric cogeneration plant in Middletown, and therefore its construction and operation would violate air pollution control statutes.

Representatives from SunCoke on Wednesday did not return calls seeking comment.

City Council’s resolution states that the city also will pursue actions necessary to ensure that all federal and state laws and regulations are met regarding the proposed plant.

From July 2008 through July 2009, Monroe has paid $358,245 for legal counsel from its attorney and expert opinions regarding its SunCoke actions. Of that, $335,201 was paid to Walker’s firm, Van Kley & Walker, according to city records.

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the building of this plant will create jobs for 150 ironworkers alone for the next year and half, not to mention crane operators, millwrights, electricians, trench diggers and other construction jobs. then after these jobs are done then everyone who operates the plant and maintain them will have jobs, plus industrial contractors that go to different plants to clean them will also get more work and create new jobs.

DV
6:21 PM, 9/15/2009

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I don't want to sound 'slanderous' as described by Mr. (or is it Miss?) Union Veteran, but we too are concerned about the well-being of the area, but not at the cost of high paying union jobs (which will happen when the existing coke plants are shut down) or at the expense of others health. Oh yea, I forgot - our mall is open, is yours? Have a nice day.

ex-ARMCO
1:18 PM, 9/11/2009

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i dont understand why everyone is making a big deal about this. my boyfriend will be on this job (if it ever starts) and we really need the money, so everyone that is voting against it, you all probably have great jobs and you dont care about all of us that dont have a job! so when you go jobless, you will really understand why theres so many people that want this to happen!!! your a rich town deal with it!!!!

unknown
5:35 PM, 9/10/2009

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Build it in New Miami where there was one before. End of story!

smokey
11:43 AM, 9/10/2009

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ex-Armco and LesC,

Do we really need to bring ourselves to the lower level of slandering?..Really?...Is that how the little "village" of Monroe handles buisness?...Or Maybe you guys want to resort to the filibuster technique again?..Just keep spewing the same questions in different forms...I don't care for West Chester's CEOs..no supprise there...I do care about a city..my city..One that George Verity built...Temp jobs are only the begining...so run along now...your new mall just opened!

Union Veteran
9:37 AM, 9/10/2009

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