By Dale Dempsey
Dayton Daily News
MIDDLETOWN | A private environmental firm, commissioned by AK
Steel, has concluded that chemicals in Dicks Creek posed no risk to humans
or the environment, findings that contradict U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency studies that form the basis for the pending federal lawsuit against
the company.
The study, by ARCADIS G&M, an environmental engineering firm based
in Denver, says the methodologies and assumptions used by the U.S. EPA
resulted in "a substantial overestimation of any actual risks and
hazards," according to a press release Tuesday from the company.
The report comes at a time when community leaders are aiding AK Steel
in its legal fight with the government. U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-West
Chester, sent a letter in May to U.S. EPA Administrator Christine Todd
Whitman asking her to reconsider the lawsuit, calling it "punitive and
counterproductive." AK Steel workers have also sent letters to Whitman
saying the lawsuit could cost 3,700 jobs at the steel plant.
"AK Steel's Middletown Works is the largest manufacturer in the Eighth
District of Ohio and has been providing Ohioans with high paying jobs for
more than 100 years," Boehner's letter reads.
AK Steel has said the potential costs of the lawsuit and costs of
installing pollution control devices could cause the company to reconsider
its continued operation in Middletown.
David Ulrich, acting regional administrator of the U.S. EPA, responded
to Boehner in late May saying the agency intends to hold AK Steel to the
same environmental standards as its domestic competitors.
Ulrich's letter quoted AK Steel's 10-K financial report filing that
said, "AK Steel does not anticipate any material impact on AK Steel's
recurring operating costs or future profitability as a result of its
compliance with current environmental regulations." According to the
report, the company posted a profit of more than $300 million for the
fiscal year ending in 2000, Ulrich said.
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel
products. Its headquarters is in Middletown.
Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. EPA Region 5 in Chicago,
said the agency received a copy of the ARCADIS report on Monday and is
reviewing it prior to the lawsuit trial.
"It is coming up pretty quick," she said.
The U.S. attorney general's lawsuit against the company, which was
joined by the Ohio attorney general, is scheduled for trial July 9 before
U.S. District Judge Herman Weber in Cincinnati. Ulrich said the U.S. EPA
is still willing to discuss a settlement with the company.
"We believe we have a sound case and we can show that high levels of
PCBs in the creek came from AK Steel," said Stephanie Beougher,
spokeswoman for the Ohio attorney general.
The federal government filed the lawsuit last June, charging the
company with multiple violations of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act
and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a hazardous waste statute,
dating back to the early 1990s. The company could face retroactive fines
ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 a day for each violation.
The U.S. EPA also issued an administrative order requiring the company
to take immediate actions to prevent human exposure to sediments and
surface water in Dicks Creek.
State and federal studies found polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a
concentration of 2.702 parts per billion in the creek. Ohio's standard for
PCBs in surface water is 0.00079.
The ARCADIS report found chemicals in the creek 10 to 100 times lower
than what the U.S. EPA considers significant, according to AK Steel's
press release.
"The court should be given the opportunity to assess the considerable
evidence presented by AK Steel that any chemicals of concern in the Dicks
Creek study area pose no risk to humans, plants or animals, which casts
serious doubts on all of EPA's allegations," said Alan H. McCoy, vice
president, public affairs for AK Steel.
The ARCADIS report, using U.S. EPA guidance, assumed that people living
near Dicks Creek "would each drink surface water directly out of Dicks
Creek, eat mud from the very bottom of the creek and eat fish from the
creek for over a 30-year period," AK Steel said.
The AK Steel press release also said the U.S. EPA ignored pollution
upstream of the plant, not attempting to prosecute other responsible
parties for contamination.
Contact Dale
Dempsey at 225-2270 or dale_dempsey@coxohio.com
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