17:09 EDT
Wednesday
Court dismisses EPA letters
A court has tossed out two letters from the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency in its pollution case against Middletown-based AK Steel.
Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge William Stapleton ruled July 27
that the two warnings issued by the EPA were "null and void and of no
legal effect."
The letters, sent in 1997 and 2000, alleged that dust emissions from AK
Steel's iron and steel furnaces in Middletown were a public nuisance.
Judge Stapleton also ruled that the steelmaker's 27-year-old regulatory
exemption on dust emissions remains intact.
Company spokesman Alan McCoy said AK Steel has reduced dust emissions
at the Middletown site by about 5,400 tons per year. "Despite the many
false and defamatory allegations of its environmental compliance record,
AK Steel spends millions of dollars each year in pollution control and
pollution prevention projects," he said.
The ruling does not affect the lawsuit's status.
AK Steel, http://www.aksteel.com/, closed trading
today at $14.01 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, a gain of 90
cents.
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