Senators seek EPA ruling fair to all parties
News & Sentinel – Senators from Ohio and West Virginia have signed on to a letter to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warning its proposed rules could hinder domestic ferroalloys production.
The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Ferroalloys Production were released by the agency in November and impacts the only two ferroalloy plants remaining in the nation, Eramet Marietta and Felman Productions of Letart, W.Va. According to Joy Frank-Collins, a spokesman for Eramet and Felman, the new standards could result in the closure of the two plants that employ more than 450 people, 200 at Eramet.
“We you know, manganese ferroalloys are a critical ingredient in steelmaking and domestic production has long been critical to our national defense industrial base,” said the letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “As such we urge the EPA to work with all stakeholders to ensure that the final promulgated rule improves public health, protects the continued operation of domestic ferroalloy manganese smelters and protects worker safety.”
