CLEVELAND — In a proposed settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Republic Steel has agreed to pay a $700,000 penalty for violating the Clean Water Act at its plants in Lorain and Canton.
The EPA filed a lawsuit against Republic Steel on Jan. 29 and had sought to receive just under $67,000 per day for each violation of the company's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and for "unpermitted discharge of pollutants from both Lorain and Canton" that occurred between 2017 and 2023.
In its "settlement stipulation and consent judgment," the EPA notes that Republic's Lorain facility "will remain idle with no current plans to resume activities, while the Canton facility is "permanently shut down with no intention to reopen it."
According to the lawsuit, between 2017 and 2023, Republic's Canton facility self-reported 89 cases in which it exceeded its permitted amount of discharged industrial wastewater. During that same period, the Lorain plant noted 115 exceedances despite the plant being idled. EPA inspectors noted other violations during visits to the two facilities.
Republic Steel has faced other fines and penalties at the state and federal level in recent years.
In 2022, the company was ordered by the DOJ to pay $990,000, plus reduce its Canton facility’s lead emissions that "caused airborne lead levels in the surrounding area to exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Lead.
Last December, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost ordered Republic Steel to pay the city of Canton $300,000 as part of a settlement of air-pollution violations at the company's mill. The money will fund a residential house-cleaning program or another project benefitting the community in an effort to compensate residents “who bore the brunt of excessive emissions from the mill.”
In addition to the community project, Yost’s office said Republic Steel “agreed to pay $60,000 to the Ohio EPA for future air monitoring, and to submit its shutdown plan to the Ohio EPA.”
On Aug. 10, 2023, Republic Steel announced that it would be idling its Canton plant indefinitely, resulting in more than 300 workers being furloughed. The Lorain plant was idled in 2016, according to the lawsuit.