[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 13, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64076-64077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-30395]



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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Clean Air Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 C.F.R. 50.7, notice is 
hereby given that a proposed Consent Decree in United States versus 
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., Civil Action No. 93-0195W (N.D.WVA), 
was lodged on December 6, 1995, with the United States District Court 
for the Northern District of West Virginia. The decree addresses the 
violations of Wheeling-Pittsburgh (``Wheeling-Pitt''), at its 
Follansbee Coke Plant in Follansbee, West Virginia, of the West 
Virginia State Implementation Plan (``SIP''), enforced pursuant to 
Section 113 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7413, and certain reporting 
requirements contained in the National Emission Standard for Hazardous 
Air Pollutants (``NESHAP'') for Benzene Emissions from Coke By-Product 
Recovery Plants, 40 C.F.R. Part 61, Subpart L. Wheeling-Pitt violated 
the SIP by combusting coke oven gas which had not been desulfurized (as 
a result of unplanned outages at the Follansbee furnace by-product 
recovery plant, where hydrogen sulfide is stripped from coke oven gas 
during normal operations), by allowing raw coke oven gas to be emitted 
(``vented'') into the ambient air during two emergencies caused by 
elevated gas pressure within coke oven batteries, and by occasional 
failures to comply with the SIP's pushing standards.
    Under the proposed Consent Decree, Wheeling-Pitt will pay a civil 
penalty of $700,000 and has agreed to detailed injunctive provisions. 
Wheeling-Pitt has abated all of the SIP violations. As to the SIP's 
desulfurization requirements, the Decree requires that, within 45 days 
of entry of the Decree, Wheeling-Pitt must have demonstrated full 
compliance with the SIP for seven consecutive days. Further, if the 
continuous emissions monitor (``CEM'') used to measure compliance with 
the desulfurization standards should malfunction, and is out of service 
for two consecutive hours, then Wheeling-Pitt must use a backup CEM, 
or, failing that, must measure and report certain parameters of the 
desulfurization process so that EPA may gauge Wheeling-Pitt's 
compliance. The Decree contains, in addition, requirements for 
Wheeling-Pitt to install, and properly operate and maintain, a new 
hydrogen sulfide scrubber and CEM at the recovery plant. Finally, to 
ensure that the recovery plant is operated and maintained adequately, 
the Decree contains detailed requirements regarding preventative 
maintenance, spare parts inventories, and standard operating 
procedures.
    As to pushing, Wheeling-Pitt must, within 45 days of entry of the 
Decree, demonstrate compliance with the SIP's pushing standard for five 
consecutive days. Further, the company must continue to monitor its 
pushing operations weekly until it has produced twelve consecutive 
weeks of data showing 100% compliance. To correct its violations of the 
SIP's pushing standards, Wheeling-Pitt has installed a number of 
improvements, including tighter boot seals at the top of the coke 
battery wall and a modified hood for the quench car. To abate its 
venting violations, Wheeling-Pitt has installed flares at its coke 
batteries, as now required under the Coke Oven Battery NESHAP.
    The Department of Justice will receive, for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication, comments relating to the 
proposed Consent Decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, 
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530, and should refer to 
United States versus Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., DOJ Ref. #90-5-2-
1-1868.
    The proposed consent decree may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney, 1100 Main Street, Suite 200, Wheeling, West 
Virginia 26003; the Region III Office of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, 841 Chestnut Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

[[Page 64077]]
19107; and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW., 4th 
Floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. A copy of the proposed 
consent decree may be obtained in person or by mail from the Consent 
Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. In 
requesting a copy please refer to the referenced case and enclose a 
check in the amount of $12.75 (25 cents per page reproduction costs), 
payable to the Consent Decree Library.
Joel M. Gross,
Acting Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 95-30395 Filed 12-12-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-01-M