CSC STEEL MILL SITE Townships to try again for federal cleanup funds

The EPA rejected requests because a development plan wasn't in place.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- Rejection of a grant application to clean up the former CSC Ltd. industrial site hasn't derailed hopes of redeveloping the site, officials say.
Last year, Champion and Warren townships applied for brownfields grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the Mahoning Avenue property which straddles both townships.
Each township sought an environmental site assessment grant from the federal agency to determine the site's condition and a cost estimate to clean it up. Each hoped for a $350,000 grant.
U.S. EPA turned down the applications.
"They wanted to see a developer and a development plan for the property," said Trish Nuskievicz, Trumbull County Planning Commission environmental specialist, of one of the reasons the grant wasn't approved. "They don't want to clean up property and just have it sit there."
Annual program
Although there's no developer on board, Nuskievicz said a lot of people are working on the cleanup idea and she expects to submit grant applications for it in the future. It's an annual grant program.
"This gives us something to work from," she said.
Because the property stretches to more than 370 acres, cleanup will be costly. Nuskievicz said applications may be submitted for smaller parcels individually until the whole area gets cleaned.
CSC Ltd., which employed about 1,375 workers, shut down in April 2001.
Warren Steel LLC, a group of Ukrainian investors, bought the mill's continuous caster and melt shop in October 2001 shortly before the rest of it was sold at auction. The caster and melt shop are no longer operating.
The property is likely polluted with heavy metals, PCBs and other elements, officials have said.
River dredging
The project, which includes property cleanup and some dredging, coincides with another Valley dredging project that's long been in the works. Part of the roughly 400-acre CSC property is bordered by the Mahoning River, which is being dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ohio EPA has about $4.3 million in escrow from the company's bankruptcy proceedings to clean a portion of the site. Estimated cleanup is about $8 million and includes filling sludge lagoons and covering the affected area with clean soil.
The Ohio EPA has said that about 70,000 cubic yards of material is needed to fill the former CSC site, and the river dredging project could provide some of the required fill material.
"We want to get the property cleaned up and in use and put jobs back into the community," Nuskievicz said.
denise_dick@vindy.com