STRUTHERS Industrial park receives grant to clean up Sheet & amp; Tube land

Officials hope the cleanup will lead to six or seven industrial buildings.
THE VINDICATOR
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
STRUTHERS -- Some former Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. land is to be cleaned up with state funds.
Hazardous metals, oils and chemicals are to be removed from 43 acres in the eastern part of CASTLO Industrial Park along South Bridge Street.
The $201,000 grant from the Clean Ohio Fund is a key part of CASTLO's efforts to bring new industry to the vacant land, said Bill DeCicco, CASTLO executive director.
The grant was among 18 awards announced Tuesday by Gov. Bob Taft. The $40 million in grants comes from a bond issue passed by state voters in 2000.
This is the second year of a four-year program to clean up brownfields, or old industrial land. The CASTLO award is the first Mahoning Valley project to be funded under Clean Ohio.
All but two of the current grants were for more than $1 million. DeCicco said the local request, which was made through Mahoning County commissioners, was smaller than most because there were never any buildings on the site. The land had been a materials yard for Sheet & amp; Tube, so it had piles of coal and coke.
DeCicco said a consultant will be hired to determine the best way to remove the hazardous materials.
Developing land
CASTLO intends to create six or seven sites for industrial buildings. The park now has 15 tenants, which employ 125 people. They are located in buildings that had been a finishing mill at the former Struthers Works.
DeCicco said CASTLO's goal is for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue a "no further action letter," which means the park wouldn't be required to perform any more cleanup work. Such a declaration would make it easier to develop the land in the park, he said.
Previous EPA grants cleared the way for the Clean Ohio money. CASTLO used $200,000 to study the 43 vacant acres and recently received $170,000 to study the 77 acres that are already developed.
DeCicco said contamination within the 77 acres is not expected to be as bad as other areas along the Mahoning River because the buildings were used to process steel that already had been produced. Areas that housed a blast furnace or mill used to make steel could have more contamination.
CASTLO is part of the Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity, which is 1,470 acres of former steel mill land on both sides of the Mahoning River. DeCicco said leaders of the redevelopment effort are focusing first on areas that have the least contamination.
He said he hopes there are other local funding requests approved during the final two years of the Clean Ohio program.
CASTLO is operated by the CASTLO Community Improvement Corp., which was formed by Campbell, Struthers and Lowellville in 1978.
shilling@vindy.com