JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Commission of Environmental Quality has fined Columbus steel mill Severstal $135,000 because the company's pollution control monitors didn't function properly after the plant expanded in June 2011.
Chris Wells, a lawyer for the state Department of Environmental Quality, says Severstal agreed to install a continuous emissions monitoring system when it made a $550 million plant expansion, adding a second steel-melting furnace. Wells says Severstal later told regulators its system couldn't work inside its emissions-handling system before pollutants were filtered. The plant lacks traditional smokestacks, making monitoring challenging beyond filters.
Wells says Severstal has been conducting traditional emissions tests during the dispute. Some tests have showed Severstal exceeding emission limits.
Severstal has submitted a report outlining its plans to fix the problems by a state-ordered deadline of Dec. 31.
