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Steel Mill Pollution Shows Need for Federal Enforcement Ray Agee's house, just yards from the AK Steel Plant, is coated daily by black soot. Cliff Shearer was a firefighter in Middletown, Ohio. In November 2001, Shearer wrote a letter to the Ohio EPA,(1) saying he had a rare form of cancer called renal cell carcinoma. His doctor had identified this particular type of cancer as one found predominantly in steelworkers, and specifically in coke oven workers. Shearer, however, had never worked in a steel plant; he had only lived next to one." All my life," he said in his letter to the EPA, "I've taken good care of my health. I'd like to know what caused my cancer. Is it because of where I live, within one-half mile of AK Steel? I would like some answers." Shearer never got his answers. The cancer spread quickly, and in April 2002, Cliff Shearer died at the age of 58. Middletown, a working class community of about 50,000 people, is mid-way between Dayton and Cincinnati. Pollution from AK Steel has been documented in the community since at least 1976. In a 1976 story in the Middletown Journal, AK Steel (then known as Armco) "concede[d] that an unusually heavy amount of pollution has been wafting over from its recycling plant."(2) According to the article, the regional air pollution authority, only four years old at the time, had received "numerous" complaints about the dust. The pollution continued over the next 25 years, during which time the Ohio EPA failed to take effective action to protect Middletown residents' health. Finally, in June 2001, the U.S. EPA took legal action against AK Steel's more than 200 violations of the Clean Water Act, numerous spills of up to 1 million gallons into the Great Miami River and Dick's Creek, and violations of the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act for improper disposal of hazardous waste.(3) Dick's Creek, which runs through Middletown, is off limits due to AK Steel. According to its Web site, AK Steel is the most profitable steel company in the country, with more than $4 billion in sales, mostly to car companies. "There is a little bit of Middletown in every town," they boast.(4) Ray Agee, a Middletown resident who lives next to the plant, cringes when he hears that slogan. "There is also a little bit of AK Steel in every lung in Middletown," Agee quips.(5) His sentiments are shared by many locals. Agee grew up in Middletown, worked briefly at AK Steel before hurting his back, and then left the community for 20 years to work as a truck driver. Five years ago he returned to Middletown and bought a house in the Oneida neighborhood where he had grown up. He remembers learning to swim in the local creek and picking berries by its edge. But Agee found that things had changed dramatically since his childhood. Signs are now posted along Dick's Creek, a six-mile waterway running through Middletown, that read, "Unsafe Water, Do Not Swim, Bathe, Drink or Fish." The inside and outside of his house, car, and garage are coated daily with black soot from AK Steel's operations. Agee says his health seems okay, although his breathing has become more labored. He speaks of a couple down the street who two years ago had a baby. They moved, he said, on the advice of their doctor. Agee's life savings are invested in his house, and he is angry with himself for not acknowledging the pollution before buying. "I thought, 'This is where I grew up-this is where I want to settle down.' But things are so bad here, I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy." In the same breath, he says, "I wish Richard Wardrop [CEO and President of the Board of AK Steel] could just spend a week down here and see what we go through. Heck, I would even rent him one of those luxury trailers..."(6) The pollution Agee and Shearer speak of is well documented. AK Steel has committed more than 200 Clean Water Act violations and dozens of Clean Air Act violations since 1995.(7) A benzene leak in January 1996 resulted in the demolition of half a block of houses.(8) AK Steel responds to questions regarding its environmental record by threatening to leave town, taking local workers' jobs with them. According to a 2001 article in the Middletown Journal, "Company leaders have also said fines and environmental compliance costs may force them to look at whether they can afford to make steel in Middletown."(9) When the Ohio EPA failed to take any action to make AK Steel comply with clean air and water laws, the U.S. EPA finally filed suit; only then did the Ohio EPA seek to intervene. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council also motioned to intervene in January 2002. The lawsuit has not solved the pollution problems in Middletown, but residents are fortunate that the U.S. EPA has finally acted to protect their air and water. Regrettably, proposals to cut the EPA's enforcement resources may limit how effectively the agency will be able to protect the public in the future. The Bush administration's FY2003 budget for the EPA would cut more than 200 inspection and civil enforcement staff jobs by 2003. The proposed cuts would slash the compliance monitoring and civil enforcement workforce that investigates and takes action against chronic environmental violators like AK Steel.(10) Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club