AK Steel penalized for water pollution

Chicago, IL— U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 and the U.S. Department of Justice have settled with AK Steel for alleged water pollution violations at its Mansfield, Ohio, plant. The company will pay a penalty of $187,500.

In a complaint filed simultaneously with the settlement on April 19, EPA alleged that on numerous occasions between April 1999 and May 2004, AK Steel’s manufacturing plant exceeded its permit limits for copper, zinc, iron, oil and grease, suspended solids and toxicity for discharges. It also alleged that the plant discharged wastewater containing mercury and oil and grease from its acid pickling and cold rolling processes to the Mansfield wastewater treatment plant in violation of the city’s sewer use ordinance.

Since Oct. 1, 1999, AK Steel has owned and operated the steel manufacturing facility in Mansfield.