The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue an emergency order requiring Middletown-based AK Steel pay for an alternative water supply for the town of Zelienople in Pennsylvania, according to an article today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The town has a water intake on Connoquenessing Creek that is about 20 miles downstream of an AK Steel's stainless steel plant. The plant has a 1995 state permit that allows it to legally discharge nitrates into the creek. Water samples taken from the creek downstream from the AK Steel plant show nitrate levels up to 10 times higher than the national standard. Nitrates can cause serious illness and even death in infants under six months. AK Steel inherited the plant when it purchased Armco Inc., and company officials earlier said they plan to try to reduce nitrate emissions at the plant. Nitrates are a byproduct of the pickling process used to make stainless steel.
