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State Specifies Air Quality Upgrades for Evraz Claymont Steel
08/11/2010 - Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has signed a Consent Decree with Evraz Inc. North America regarding air quality control technologies at Evraz Claymont Steel.
Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has signed a Consent Decree with Evraz Inc. North America regarding air quality control technologies at Evraz Claymont Steel.
Signed by DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara and Evraz NA President and CEO Michael Rehwinkel, the consent decree requires Evraz Claymont Steel to implement a comprehensive series of investments and operational changes to control dust and other emissions at the facility. It resolves outstanding compliance issues and builds upon years of civic leadership by local residents focused on improving the health of their community.
Under the agreement, DNREC will require Evraz to control emissions from several operations in the facility’s meltshop by modernizing an existing baghouse, including the particulate collection and filter system, as well as increasing baghouse capacity and installing additional equipment. Evraz will also be required to continue the enhanced mercury pollution prevention program the company initiated in January 2007.
“This agreement is a significant step forward for air quality,” said Delaware Governor Jack Markell. “It also represents a major commitment by Evraz to invest in Delaware and its future here, and will position it to continue as a significant contributor to our local economy in a more environmentally sensitive manner.”
Under the agreement, Evraz is also required to implement operational practices that will reduce the potential for emissions as well as to continue particulate monitoring around the facility. The agreement also establishes schedules for the acquisition of permits and other approvals, and stipulates financial penalties if the terms and conditions are not met.
Specific actions required under the order include:
· Design, facilitate and install additional baghouse capacity and capture equipment no later than August 2013.
· Install state-of the-art control technology and to capture emissions from the electric arc furnace, stir station and ladle reheat operations and direct emissions to a baghouse.
· Move the slag cooling operations (currently conducted outside) to inside the meltshop within six months of the effective date of the order.
· Relocate the ladle slag dump area inside of the facility and install a water suppression system.
· Implement feed controls at the stir station until additional baghouse capacity and associated equipment are operational.
· Modify the tapping hood to ensure proper alignment for tapping operation and for use during the ladle reheat process.
· Submit an updated Title V renewal permit application within 30 days of the order’s effective date.
· Maintain operations of four ambient air quality monitors and submit monitoring reports to DNREC.
· Continue to implement its enhanced mercury pollution prevention program, including quarterly testing for mercury emissions from appropriate units.
“The citizens who joined together to improve local air quality are to be commended for their unwavering dedication to their community, as is the new leadership team of Evraz who is walking the talk about being a good corporate neighbor,” commented Secretary O’Mara.
In July 2009, under the advice of the Citizens Involvement Advisory Committee, Secretary O’Mara awarded the Claymont Community Coalition a $33,770 Community Environmental Project Fund (CEPF) grant for a dust study. The project will be conducted through November 15, 2010. Community Dust Study Team volunteers will take 112 ambient air samples and conduct analyses of selected samples.
Evraz has invested in improving the environmental performance of the Claymont facility since acquiring it from Claymont Steel Holdings, Inc. in January 2008. Investments have included projects to enhance air pollution control practices, as well as voluntary measures to help control dust from the facility, including paving a large area of the site that was previously exposed.
If the terms of the agreement are approved by the court, the newly signed consent decree will resolve outstanding compliance issues related to fugitive dust emissions and mercury emissions from the facility, including issues remaining from two conciliation orders issued in 2006.
Evraz Claymont Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evraz Inc. North America, manufactures and sells custom-order steel plates and recycles scrap metal from the consumer and industrial refuse stream.
