AK Steel Corporation (�AK Steel�) owns and operates a steel-making mini mill located at 913 Bowman Street, Mansfield, Ohio (the �Facility�). AK Steel is located in an environmental justice area of concern. AK Steel operates, among other things, two electric arc furnaces (EAFs) identified as EAF #8 and EAF #9 at its Facility.
On March 26, 2013, EPA issued a Notice and Finding of Violations (�NOV/FOV�) to AK Steel for failure to meet its Clean Air Act requirements by: (a) exceeding the visible particulate emissions limit of NSPS AAa at its melt shop operations baghouse stack while the EAFs were operating; (b) exceeding the visible fugitive particulate emissions limit of NSPS AAa at the melt shop building enclosure; (c) failing to maintain the baghouse control system fan motor amperes; and (d) exceeding the visible particulate emissions limit at the baghouse serving the thin slab continuous caster. Alleged violation of the visible particulate emissions limit at the baghouse serving the thin slab continuous caster has since been dropped.
On May 1, 2013, EPA and AK Steel met to discuss the Notice and Finding of Violation (NOV/FOV) that was issued by EPA on March 26, 2013. During the meeting and through subsequent discussions between AK Steel and EPA, AK Steel explained the root cause for each of the violations and actions taken by the company to address those violations. Below is a discussion of these actions:
(1) To address the visible particulate emi