EPA

Attached is another Notice of Violation issued on February 29, 2012.  This the fourth malfunction or NOV that has occurred since SunCoke began operation on October 30, 2011 - Five in four months!

The National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Dioxide is 75 parts per billion averaged hourly. The concentrations documented on the EPA website are high one hour averages. Units are parts per billion.  SunCoke Exceeded the limits on March 2nd and 3rd - limits were 156 and 133 for those days. 

http://www.southwestohioair.org/air-quality-data/middletown-coke-monitor...

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/new-suncoke-plant-hits-snag

On Channel 9 news on February 16, 2012.

Attached is the Notice of Violation issued to SunCoke Energy Middletown Operations.  The Violation resulted from a Compliance Specialist from the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency driving past SunCoke on January 23rd and observing fugitive dust emissions rising from the coke conveyor where the coke exists the transfer tower immediately west of Yankee Road.

Since SunCoke's start-up, noise and light pollution concerns and odor complaints have been made on multiple occasions. SunCoke has now had their first formal EPA investigation following an incident on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, in which residents issued complaints to the EPA regarding particulate matter falling on their property.

Mike Ploetz’s statement in the Journal today is in need of correction. The EPA hasn’t confirmed it is fly ash. Although it may be true that fly ash isn’t “hazardous” – that is a legal term that applies to particular kinds of solid waste and is not typically applied to fly ash - it is well documented that fly ash (like other forms of coal ash) is typically toxic and contains various heavy metals that can be harmful to human health. I’ve formally requested that that EPA office issue a statement to the Journal correcting this inaccurate information printed today. The public has now been led to believe by the EPA that there are no potential health risks with what has occurred, which is inaccurate.

Here is the link to the story:

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/suncoke-incident-u...

Below is a link to a report from the organization Physicians for Social Responsibility that talks about the health risks from coal ash. Much of this report is focused on the potential problems with coal ash landfills, which isn’t the issue here, but this report does contain a good description of the possible contents of fly ash and why it might be unsafe.

http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/coal-ash.pdf

More info on fly ash:

Is Fly Ash Toxic?

On Sept. 22nd, SunCoke Energy's Middletown Operations submitted a Permit Modification request to clarify their "intent."  Seems all of the discussion over the years of "totally" enclosed conveyor belts are really just conveyor "covers" after all.  SunCoke is requesting that any reference to "total" or "totally" be stricken from the permit in regards to the enclosing of the conveyor belts. 

Click on the links below to track the air quality in our community. Also below is a link to the Middletown Coke Company monitoring.

http://www.hcdoes.org/airquality/webpages/aqindex.htm

http://www.hcdoes.org/airquality/Middletown/MiddletownCokeMonitoring.htm

http://ohioair.info/cinci2/pm25map2.php

The American Lung Association released its annual report on air quality, State of the Air 2011, which includes a list of the nation’s most polluted metropolitan areas.

Go to www.stateoftheair.org to review the data.

Rankings for Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.
• Ranked 16 for high ozone days out of 277 metropolitan areas
• Ranked 43 for 24-hour particle pollution out of 277 metropolitan areas
• Ranked 9 for annual particle pollution out of 277 metropolitan areas

Attached is the Franklin County Court of Appeals ruling issued on April 7, 2011. Both SunCoke Watch, Inc. and the City of Monroe independent of each other filed appeals in the Court of Appeals in response to ERAC's decision to dismiss their appeals on the first netting permit issued to SunCoke.

ERAC had dismissed those appeals on the first netting permit when the NSR permit was issued and was unwilling to state that the permit was permanently void and unable to be revived. They also were unwilling to state that the right to appeal the first netting permit would still exist if SunCoke wanted to use the first netting permit if for some reason they no longer could utilize the NSR permit. Due to these legal holes still existing, the need to appeal was necessary.

The court clearly stated that should that circumstance arise, that the right to appeal would still exist.

http://mo.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/monroe-wins-a-rulin...