EPA Asks for Comments on AK Steel Disposal Well in Ohio

CHICAGO, June 23, 2008 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 asks the public to provide information that could affect its decision to approve a request from AK Steel Corp. AK Steel wants an exemption that allows the company to continue to dispose of hazardous waste from its steelmaking operations into two existing underground injection wells on its property in Middletown, Ohio. The original exemption from federal restrictions on land disposal of hazardous waste was approved in 1990.

EPA tentatively plans to re-issue the exemption pending public comment. It has reviewed information provided by the company that shows the waste will not move out of the underground layers of rock where it will be confined when it is disposed in the deep wells.

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EPA has scheduled an information meeting and public hearing on this issue for July 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Middletown Council Chambers, One Donham Plaza, Middletown, Ohio.

A fact sheet and the proposed decision to approve the exemption are available at the Middletown Library, 125 S. Broad St., or on EPA's Web site: http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/pubpdf/ak_factsheet.pdf.

Source: EPA