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Ohio EPA claims smoke opacity violations at AK coke plant

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer Updated 2:19 AM Wednesday, January 12, 2011

MIDDLETOWN — Now that AK Steel Corp. has fixed the emissions from its Basic Oxygen Furnace at the Middletown Works, the combustion stack of the coke plant there is in alleged violation of regulations, according to an Ohio EPA office.

AK Steel received four notices late last year of alleged heavy smoke emissions from the oxygen furnace, from the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, a local arm of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The Basic Oxygen Furnace is where pure oxygen is blown into hot metal to make steel, said Mike Ploetz, an environmental compliance specialist for the Hamilton County department.

On Dec. 2, an AK Steel official said the company installed a lance seal design to reduce smoke emissions from the oxygen furnace. Ploetz said checks he made on Dec. 17 showed the corrective actions seemed to work.

But in response to a complaint, Ploetz returned to the plant for more observations Dec. 21 to find heavier than usual black smoke coming from the combustion stack of the Wilputte Coke Battery, which makes coke, a key raw ingredient for producing steel.

“It’s just a little bit over the standard, but it’s enough for us to send them a notice to make improvements,” Ploetz said.

The smoke from the combustion stack exceeded the 20 percent opacity standard for stack emissions over a six-minute average set by the U.S. EPA, Ploetz said. During his visual observations, the smoke emissions exceeded the standard, twice reaching average opacity, or heaviness, of 23 percent over six minutes.

On Jan. 5 Ploetz sent a letter of a notice of violation to Patrick Gallo, Middletown Works environmental affairs manager, asking for an investigation of the causes.

“We investigate any matter brought to us by the agency, and that’s what we’ll do and respond accordingly,” said Alan McCoy, an AK spokesman.

AK Steel has 30 days from the receipt of the notice to tell Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, what the problem was and how it’ll be fixed, Ploetz said.

“I know there have not been any notice of violations for several years for that stack,” Ploetz said.

Of his observations Dec. 21, Ploetz said, “It didn’t go on for a long time ... but it was heavier than it should be.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.

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