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| AK Steel |
AK Steel installs air pollution controls on Basic Oxygen Furnace
May 2006 - AK Steel has installed air pollution controls which are now removing 7 to 10 tons per week of soot from the air in Middletown. This happened after years of organizing, legal action and hard work by residents in Middletown, ECO, Sierra Club and Ohio Citizen Action. This means cleaner and healthier air in the region and is a terrific victory for the environment.
May 2005 - AK Steel completed controls on its Blast Furnace one month early, in April 2005. This reduced soot in Middletown by 3 tons per day. This happened after years of organizing, legal action and hard work by residents in Middletown, ECO, Sierra Club and Ohio Citizen Action. This means cleaner and healthier air in the region and is a terrific victory for the environment The second round of controls is due in May 2006.
AK Steel and Ohio EPA Settle Pollution Suit
Neighbors and Environmental Groups Declare Victory
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March 31, 2004 – Neighbors and environmental groups are encouraged by another victory that ensures cleaner air for our entire region. AK Steel and the Ohio EPA have announce a settlement that has come as a result of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. The agreement will require installation of advanced pollution controls one year earlier than required by federal law. According to the Ohio EPA, air pollutants in Middletown are expected to drop by approximately 800 tons of particulate per year. AK Steel recently announced plans to install $65 million dollars in pollution controls, $20 million of which will be spent this year to comply with the new federal laws. AK Steel also plans to begin construction on April 12, to protect local children from a polluted creek. All of these demands were issued by neighbors in Middletown and local environmental groups who have been working to address pollution concerns in Middletown for the past three years. Susan Knight , Project Director for the Sierra Club, said of the announcement, “AK Steel has historically been one of the worst polluters in our entire region. Mr. Wainscott's commitment today means cleaner air for Middletown , Cincinnati , and Dayton . The only concern we have is that once the pollution controls are in place, they are used.”
The agreement calls for $66 million in pollution controls, and several programs to address concerns of the neighbors living near the Middletown Works, including a telephone response program to file complaints and a clean up service for particulate emissions while controls are being installed. |
Pictures courtesy of Jimmy Heath, community photographer
( See more pictures in the Photo Gallery
)
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*IMPORTANT UPDATE!!! CEO RICHARD WARDROP RESIGNS!!!*
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Residents of a neighborhood living in the shadow of AK Steel's Middletown plant have decided enough is enough. Supported by ECO and its partners in the Campaign for Safer Neighborhoods, they have formed a neighbor's group, named United Neighbors Against Dirty Air (UNADA). The group is planning steps to bring more awareness to their problems, and to put pressure on the company to make some changes. These neighbors have for decades endured intense levels of pollution, yet many are determined to stay in this picturesque neighborhood of large yards and big trees, that many say remind them of the country.
They live with particulate matter so bad that windows cannot be left open, houses are stained by soot, and cars washed one day are covered with grit overnight. The fallout is often so heavy that residents say it looks like snow is falling in summer, although this is a black snow. Lung cancer and respiratory illness rates are sky high; even dogs die of lung cancer in Oneida. The particles include bits of metal: one resident demonstrated by swiping a magnet through the lawn, and it came up coated with metal shards. Some neighbors tell stories of those who have left: people told by their doctor that if they didn't leave, their baby or child would soon die from pollution-related illness. And families have lost multiple members to lung cancer and other rare lung diseases.
Dicks Creek runs through Oneida. Now signs are posted by the creek warning would-be swimmers and fishermen away. The reason: contamination by PCBs. Illegal dumping of PCBs and legal disposal of heavy metals into the creek by the company has been going on for years. USEPA is conducting a lawsuit against AK Steel for the PCB contamination, along with a laundry list of many other violations.
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View the results of lab analysis of water samples from Middletown's Dick's Creek
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Check out video footage taken by Sierra Club Project Director Susan Knight. Footage is taken outside the fenceline of the AK Steel Middletown plant.
We also have footage of Nancy Cottle speaking out about the pollution in her neighborhood at the Press Conference outside the DuPont Hotel in Wilmington, Delaware (after the AK Steel Shareholders' Meeting).
If you have Windows Media Player installed on your PC, use the links above to view the footage. If you can not view them straight away, save the file and then open it in a media player.
Top 10 Accomplishments
of the AK Steel Good Neighbor Campaign
May 2001 - September 2002