Ohio Foundry Agrees to Settlement

According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Elyria Foundry Co. has agreed to pay the agency a $155,000 penalty as a settlement for violating Ohio’s air pollution control laws at its Elyria, Ohio, iron foundry.

According to the Ohio EPA, through facility visits and records reviews, agency inspectors found Elyria Foundry failed to properly operate pollution control equipment, comply with permitted emissions limits, conduct required visual emissions checks and stack tests at maximum capacity levels, and submit timely and complete compliance reports. The company was notified of the violations in several letters from 2007 to 2009.

Elyria Foundry’s operations convert scrap metal into molten iron, which is poured into sand molds to produce solid castings. The process involves the use of furnaces, mixers, a dryer and other pieces of equipment that emit pollutants and are regulated as air contaminant sources.

The settlement includes a civil penalty of $124,000 to support state and local air pollution control programs and the Ohio Environmental Education Fund and $31,000 to Ohio EPA’s clean diesel school bus program fund.