Environmental Record
The Political Economy Research Institute ranks AK Steel 14th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the United States. The ranking is based on the quantity (300 thousand pounds in 2009) and toxicity of the emissions. At the same time, it scored well in terms of environmental justice, affecting smaller percentages of the poor and minorities than their respective percentages of the total population. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an Emergency Order pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act to AK Steel's Butler Works located in Butler, Pennsylvania concerning the nitrate/nitrite compounds being released into the Connoquenessing Creek, an occasional water source for the Borough of Zelienople on June 27, 2000. They had violated the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and that it had failed to properly dispose of hexavalent chromium waste in Butler. In 2004 the EPA and the Justice Department announced that AK Steel Holding settled their alleged environmental violations at their steel mill in Butler, Pennsylvania. AK Steel Holding agreed to a $1.2 million settlement, which consists of a $300,000 penalty and $900,000 in projects intended to reduce smog-producing ozone in Pennsylvania. In 2006, AK Steel reached an estimated $12,000,000 settlement to compensate for PCB contamination in Middletown, Ohio.
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