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Hearing to discuss equipment for Monroe Ditch cleanup

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 1:25 PM Tuesday, March 9, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will hold an information session and public meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 23 to discuss the draft air permit for an air stripper to remove airborne pollution transferred when contaminated water is extracted from landfills at AK Steel’s Middletown Works.

The hearing will take place in the Middletown Council Chambers, 1 Donham Plaza, Middletown.

The equipment will be used as part of the larger cleanup efforts that the company agreed to as the result of a suit brought by Ohio EPA, U.S. EPA and joined by the Sierra Club. When the cleanup is complete, volatile organic compounds should have been captured and contaminants that leak from the on-site landfills into Dicks Creek and Monroe Ditch should have been removed or contained so that they no longer contaminate ground or surface water, according to the Ohio EPA.

Air stripping is the process of forcing air through polluted ground water or surface water to remove harmful chemicals. The air causes the chemicals to change from a liquid to a gas as they evaporate. The gas is then collected and cleaned. According to the Ohio EPA, air stripping is commonly used to treat ground water.

The state agency will consider questions and concerns regarding the permit at the hearing as well as take comments for the public record. Written comments will be accepted until March 26. To submit a comment, send it to Mike Ploetz, Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219-2660.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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