FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1997 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Pittsburgh-based USX Corporation agreed to a multi-million dollar environmental settlement requiring it to clean up hazardous waste it illegally stored and disposed of at its U.S. Steel plant near Birmingham, Alabama. As part of the settlement USX will pay a $1 million penalty and has also agreed to perform supplemental environmental projects estimated to cost $1.75 million.
According to a lawsuit filed with the settlement yesterday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham by the Justice Department on behalf of the Environemtal Protection Agency, USX illegally dumped hazardous waste in a company-owned landfill, stored hazardous waste in open, leaky storage tanks, and left piles of hazardous sludge lying around the plant.
The settlement, if approved by the court, would resolve the federal government's allegations. Under the agreement, USX will clean up the contamination at its plant and perform two projects to help clean up the local environment. The two projects include revitalizing a blighted industrial area in North Birmingham, and replacing old toxic PCB transformers with new PCB free transformers at the U.S. Steel plant.
"Companies that handle hazardous waste must comply with our nation's environmental laws -- public health and a clean environment depend upon it," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This case is another example of our environmental laws working to get contamination cleaned up."
"This action sends an unmistakable message that those who violate federal laws and threaten human health and the environment will be prosecuted," said John Hankinson, Jr., EPA Regional Administrator in Atlanta. "We will continue to use strong, fair, and effective enforcement to correct violations, establish deterrence, and create incentives for future compliance."
USX owns and operates the U.S. Steel - Fairfield Works facility, an integrated iron and steel-making plant located west of Birmingham. The plant, which opened in 1917, manufactures and finishes steel pipes, beams, sheets, coils, and strips. Until 1982, USX also ran a plant that converts coal into coke for use as a fuel in furnaces that make steel. The facility employs about 2,500 people.
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