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Youngstown is making $120,000 in improvements to its wastewater treatment plant to settle a federal EPA violation
YOUNGSTOWN
The city will make $120,000 in improvements to its wastewater treatment facility and pay a $20,415 fine to the federal Environmental Protection Agency to settle a violation for a liquid chlorine leak at the Poland Avenue plant last year.
The EPA initially ordered the city to pay a $288,000 fine for the May 4, 2015, leak of about 500 gallons of liquid chlorine.
But city officials were able to “negotiate that down” to a $20,415 fine and an agreement to spend at least $100,000 on improvements to better detect similar leaks, said Nicole Billec, an assistant city law director.
Council will consider legislation Wednesday to authorize the board of control to enter into an agreement with the EPA to pay the fine and make up to $120,000 in improvements to the plant.
The improvement work is expanding the plant’s chlorine and sulfur dioxide detection system and to install fiber-optic cables for an alarm system to alert those inside the plant when emergencies occur, Billec said.
When the leak occurred, there were about 50 wastewater workers at the facility.
One worker was taken to a hospital to be examined because he was exposed to the gas for several minutes.
That worker was taking out garbage when the leak was detected and wasn’t harmed.
Chlorine is used as a disinfectant of the wastewater. It is harmful if inhaled at a rapid rate.
The city is spending millions of dollars to upgrade the plant, built in 1963, which has been a problem.
The Ohio EPA fined the city $88,000 in November 2015 for emissions violations at the facility.
The city came to an agreement to not pay the fine and instead use up to $500,000 in wastewater funds to remove asbestos and demolish the remains of the former Wick Avenue car-dealership properties.
Council also will consider legislation to buy nine parcels on Gibson Street on the South Side for $51,076 to expand the wastewater treatment plant.
Also on the agenda is paying $50,000 to the city’s insurance company, HCC Public Risk Claim Service, to settle a federal lawsuit filed last year by Layton Shepherd of Youngstown.
In the lawsuit, Shepherd alleges police violated his civil rights in March 2013 by handcuffing him for two hours while executing a drug-related search warrant of his house aimed at his son, who lived with him.
The city is paying $21,000 to Shepherd and $29,000 to lawyers who represented Youngstown in the lawsuit, said Law Director Martin Hume.