Allegations of excess venting from bypass vent stacks beyond permit limits by SunCoke Energy Inc., Lisle, Ill., have been laid to rest following an agreement between the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the states of Illinois and Ohio. The governmental bodies had alleged that SunCoke exceeded its permit limits at at the company’s Haverhill facility in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, and Granite City facility in Granite City, Ill.

As part of the settlement, SunCoke will develop and implement a system that will be the best available emissions control technology for coke plants in the United States. The technology consists of SunCoke installing redundant heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) to further limit emissions during maintenance or malfunction of the HRSGs.

Also, SunCoke will pay a civil penalty of $1.995 million and has agreed to contribute $255,000 to the St. Louis Lead Prevention Coalition, a nonprofit that conducts lead abatement in homes where the owners could not otherwise afford the work. This project is being undertaken in connection with the settlement of an enforcement action, United States v. SunCoke Energy Inc., taken on behalf of the EPA under the Clean Air Act.

 SunCoke Energy Inc. is the largest independent producer of metallurgical coke in the Americas. Its heat recovery coke-making process produces high-quality coke for use in steelmaking and captures waste heat for derivative energy resale.