EPA RCRA ID: OHD004281598
On this page:
- Latest News
- Cleanup Activities
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineering Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
- Contacts for this Facility
Latest News
Cleanup Activities
Since 2003, Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc. (formerly AK Steel) has been performing sampling and analysis of soil and groundwater both on-site and off-site of the Zanesville Works facility to characterize environmental impacts from previous releases. This work is being done pursuant to an Administrative Order under Section 3013 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act issued in 2003. Sampling also included the surface water and sediments of the Muskingum River, and the recreational fields to the south of the active portion of the facility.
The adjacent property to the north of the AK Steel facility is the Zanesville Wellfield Superfund site. EPA is also working with that property owner separately to remediate chlorinated solvents in groundwater using methods that require the extraction of groundwater. Those efforts have affected the groundwater flow in the area, causing some contaminated groundwater from the AK Steel property to migrate north towards the Superfund site. AK Steel routinely samples monitoring wells located on the Superfund site for contaminants emanating from the Zanesville Works property to ensure the plume remains stable and is not impacting the Zanesville Wellfield across the Muskingum River.
The Final Decision and Response to Comments was issued to Cleveland-Cliffs on August 20, 2021. Cleveland-Cliffs will begin recovery of LNAPL while simultaneously preparing a Corrective Measures Implementation Work Plan (CMI) for submittal to EPA. This CMI will include long term monitoring schedules, decision criteria regarding the groundwater monitoring scope, any summaries of the final remedy strategy based on the Corrective Measures Study and any other information Cleveland-Cliffs and EPA believe to be relevant.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
AK Steel - Zanesville Works is a manufacturer of specialty, flat rolled and coiled steel, with processes including cold rolling, coating, pickling, annealing, and painting. The facility also manufactures electrical steel used for utilities. Under EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) section 3013, AK Steel was ordered in 2002 to investigate areas that could be sources of contamination.
In 1995, a cavity was discovered in an underground tank near a finishing line that was likely caused by an overflow of pickle liquor - a steel manufacturing byproduct considered a hazardous waste by the EPA – which resulted in elevated groundwater fluoride levels. This contamination migrated north onto the neighboring Zanesville Well Field Superfund site. Following the discovered release, investigations began with a final report submitted in 2012. In 2006, AK Steel began exploring remedial options which included bench scale studies to address the fluoride contamination.
In addition to the impacts from the pickle liquor release, light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) have been located on-site. These impacts appear to be stable and have not migrated off-site. Samples collected indicate the source is petroleum based, and the remedy will include physical removal of the LNAPL from the subsurface.
Contaminants at this Facility
The contaminants of concern at this facility include fluoride in on-site and off-site groundwater, chromium in the trivalent and hexavalent states in on-site and off-site groundwater, and lead in deeper soils limited to one location on-site.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
At present, no controls have been finalized, but will be included as part of the expected final remedy. Institutional controls will include limiting property use to industrial uses, restricting groundwater use on-site to non-potable uses, and require soil management plans should any excavation work occur.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
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Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
- More Information from the Envirofacts database
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.