Monroe Chat

Ohio EPA issues new draft permit for SunCoke
By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer
Updated 2:27 PM Tuesday, July 28, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a draft New Source Review permit for the SunCoke Energy plant to be built locally.

The issuing of the draft permit puts the company one step closer to constructing the new plant, which will take 18 to 24 months to build and has experienced a myriad of delays since its first air permit was issued in November 2008.

The permit was issued late Monday, July 28, said Heather Lauer, spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA.

This is the second permit issued for the $340 million Middletown coke plant, which will supply nearby AK Steel with coke, a raw material used to make steel, and electricity for at least the next 20 years.

There have been questions about SunCoke’s current permit, issued by the Ohio EPA in November, due to the agency’s interpretation of air emission credits from the closing of AK Steel’s sister plant in June 2003. The permit defines a window of five years for use of emission credits. The NSR permit does not have that time constraint, Lauer said.

SunCoke said in March it was seeking a new permit to remove any doubt it was capable of meeting Ohio’s air emissions requirements. The application for the NSR permit was submitted to the Ohio EPA in April.

According to the draft permit, SunCoke’s plant must meet the lowest achievable emission rates, use the best available technology for air emissions, certify that all its Ohio facilities are in compliance with their emissions permits as well as demonstrate that the air quality in Butler County will benefit from the project.

The company has received air pollution offsets from other air pollution sources as part of the NSR draft permit. It currently names Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and AK Steel’s closure of the sinter plant in Middletown as sources of emissions offsets.

A public hearing has been set by the Ohio EPA to discuss the draft permit on Sept. 2.

It is still unclear how SunCoke’s current air permit will be affected by the possible issuance of the NSR. Both permits cannot stand at the same time, the Ohio EPA has said.

“It will be one or the other and at the end if this permit goes final then I don’t know if the company will have to choose or the Ohio EPA will say this one supersedes that one,” Lauer said.

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Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.



Find this article at:
http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/m ... 25173.html

Well its going to BE ROUND 2.....

wasn't it recently released to the public that their other plant in OH was not up to the pollution permit?? wouldn't that eliminate this??

It's a draft permit, it's kinda like a temp drivers license and they still have to pass the test to get the real thing.

Les wrote:
According to the draft permit, SunCoke’s plant must meet the lowest achievable emission rates, use the best available technology for air emissions, certify that all its Ohio facilities are in compliance with their emissions permits as well as demonstrate that the air quality in Butler County will benefit from the project.

Find this article at:
http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/m ... 25173.html

Not sure how any extra pollution of any kind can benefit Butler County.

Thank you, City Council, for pursuing this so diligently!