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Hearing today on permit for $340M SunCoke plant

EPA to discuss air permit for proposed SunCoke facility

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 3:10 PM Wednesday, September 2, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — The plan to build a new $340 million coke oven facility in Middletown is entering round two as the new air permit requested by SunCoke Energy for the facility will be presented at a hearing.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will be answering questions and accepting comments during a public hearing today, Sept. 2, on the New Source Review air emissions permit requested by SunCoke in April that was issued in draft form in late July.

The hearing has a new location, at Finkleman Auditorium at the Miami University Middletown. Also, the session has been pushed back to 6:45 p.m. due to the venue change.

After several calls about the hearing, Miami officials requested the event move from the Campus Community Center to the auditorium to ensure there would be enough space for all attendees, said Heather Lauer, spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA.

The state agency will consider comments about how the proposed air pollution controls will protect health and the environment; whether appropriate air pollution controls are required to be installed; and whether all sources of pollution have been identified and characterized on the draft permit.

Comments on potential traffic, noise, jobs, economic development, property values or the popularity of the project will not be discussed, Ohio EPA officials said.

This is the second public hearing and second permit for the SunCoke facility. The company was issued an air permit in November.

However, after a lawsuit and multiple appeals, SunCoke voluntarily halted construction at the plant site off Yankee Road to pursue the NSR permit to “eliminate any doubt” it could meet emissions requirements.

SunCoke informs Ohio EPA that its Ohio facilities meet

clean-air standards

SunCoke Energy has certified via letter to state officials that its Ohio facilities are in compliance with air emissions regulations as required by a new permit it is seeking for a plant in Middletown.

The letter was sent to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, Aug. 29, certifying that all existing major stationary sources of emissions owned by SunCoke’s Middletown Coke Company and parent company are “in compliance with all applicable emission limitations and standards under the Clean Air Act.”

SunCoke must certify the plants are in compliance to receive the New Source Review permit requested from the Ohio EPA for a new $340 million coke oven plant to be built off Yankee Road in Middletown. The plant would create 500 temporary and 75 permanent jobs locally.

While questions have been raised as to whether SunCoke is capable of complying with regulations after a series of violations at one of its plants, Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heather Lauer said the company need only prove it is in compliance with its air permit when it submits its letter of certification.

Lauer said the agency is still researching whether outstanding violations have been resolved and if SunCoke was certifiably in compliance when the letter was received.

“We need to double back and make sure we understand what was actually going on at the time they were certified,” she said. “We are not ready to say they were or were not in compliance. That is part of what has to be evaluated.”

Ohio EPA local agent, Portsmouth Local Air Agency, issued two notices of violation for SunCoke’s Haverhill North Coke Co. facility in Franklin Furnace, Ohio. The notices, issued July 17, alleged the company failed to properly operate its Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems to capture rates for its sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions and was emitting more nitrogen oxides than allowed by its air permit.

SunCoke issued a response to Portsmouth and the Ohio EPA Aug. 5. stating it did not agree it was in violation, and the instances were a result of a series of malfunctions, downtime and repairs and have been resolved.

Thomas Golembeski, spokesman for SunCoke, said the company is confident the facility meets federal and state requirements for use of the best available technology and air quality standards.

“Questions have been raised as to how Middletown Coke Co. will certify compliance under the federal regulation due to outstanding notices of violation. We have reviewed those notices and are confident that Middletown Coke Company’s related companies satisfy those requirements,” he said.

Whether SunCoke meets regulations will have a greater impact after the public commenting period for SunCoke’s NSR permit is over, as Lauer said the EPA is neither “ready to issue the permit (nor) are we ready to deny the permit.”

The Ohio EPA will collect public comments on the permit during tonight’s hearing. The agency also will accept written comments through 5 p.m. Sept. 8, sent to Mike Ploetz, Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, First Floor, Cincinnati, OH 45219.

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