FRANKLIN FURNACE, Ohio — State and local environmental regulators issued a series of violation notices to Haverhill Coke Company throughout 2025, citing repeated air pollution exceedances, improper hazardous waste storage, and multiple reporting failures at the company’s coke-making facility in Scioto County.
The Portsmouth Local Air Agency and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency documented violations across several inspections and quarterly reports, including opacity exceedances from the plant’s main stack, quench water pollution limit violations, door fire events lasting longer than federal rules allow, and the improper storage of corrosive hazardous waste for nearly a year.
In a Dec. 19 notice, the Portsmouth Local Air Agency said Haverhill Coke failed to meet federal and state limits on total dissolved solids in quench water used to cool coke from two of its batteries. Regulators also said the company did not collect samples during “normal and representative operating conditions,” as required under federal hazardous air pollutant standards. The agency said the company omitted at least two required deviations from its third-quarter report, including a July exceedance and a door fire event on Oven 39.
The December notice followed an Oct. 31 violation letter documenting a rise in visible emissions from the plant’s Phase 1 battery. Inspectors recorded opacity levels as high as 75% during a 30-minute observation period, far above the 10% limit in the facility’s Title V air permit. The agency said the company reported 18 pressure drop exceedances in its flue gas desulfurization baghouse since April, and that temporary repairs made in August did not prevent worsening emissions. Citizen complaints about visible emissions began in May.
Separately, Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization issued a hazardous waste Notice of Violation on Sept. 11 after inspectors found two 275-gallon totes of used sublime descaler — a corrosive hazardous waste — stored outdoors for about 10 months. Large quantity generators may store hazardous waste for no more than 90 days without a permit. Inspectors also cited unlabeled containers, an outdated contingency plan, mismanaged universal waste, and an overflowing used oil containment basin that had released oily water into the surrounding soil.
Ohio EPA said the extended storage constituted operation of an unpermitted hazardous waste facility and warned the company it may be subject to closure plan and financial assurance requirements.
In a formal response dated Sept. 25, Haverhill Coke disputed the agency’s conclusion that the sublime descaler was a waste at the time of inspection, stating the material was being evaluated for reuse in its flue gas desulfurization process. The company said it shipped the material to a licensed hazardous waste facility on Sept. 3 “without admission of any fact or legal conclusion” and confirmed that no spills had occurred at the storage site.
Haverhill Coke also submitted documentation resolving several other violations, including updated contingency plans, corrected labeling, and cleanup of the used oil release. In its response, the company said the violations were addressed promptly and did not pose a threat to human health or the environment.
Regulators said several violations remain under review. The facility, owned by SunCoke Energy, operates 200 heat-recovery coke ovens and is one of the region’s largest industrial sources of air emissions.
Read the full ‘Notice of Violation’ below: