SH Bell will remove all manganese operations from its Little England Facility. Currently, the company maintains two facilities in the East Liverpool area: The Little England Facility and the Stateline Facility. The storage, handling and processing of manganese currently being conducted at the Little England Facility will be transferred to the Stateline Facility on or before March 31, 2010.
In developing this agreement with SH BELL, Ohio EPA recognized that the company’s air emissions are in compliance with all applicable permits, regulations and agreements. As a result of the voluntary agreement, SH Bell will employ a host of other emission control measures at both of its East Liverpool facilities:
SH Bell said that it will continue with a dust suppression program on all unpaved roads and other unpaved surfaces and will continue enhanced watering and vacuum sweeping measures on all paved roads and other paved surfaces. The company will continue to use loader tunnels, a capture system and emission control equipment for the control of fugitive dust at dump hoppers.
The company will install and deploy wet suppression systems, or equivalent controls, aimed at minimizing dust at its processing units at the Stateline facility and will continue to use truck load out and add truck unloading sheds equipped with emissions control technology.
SH Bell has added a wet suppression system at the barge unloading dock to control emissions and has agreed to store all manganese-containing materials in indoor storage sheds and will perform other improvements aimed at controlling dust emissions.
John Bell, president of SH Bell, said: “We have 70 employees at our two facilities in the area, and many of those employees live in the region. This renewed effort will add to an already progressive program the company has executed, which is aimed at controlling dust and lowering emissions.
”From structural upgrades to updated processes, SH Bell Company is taking important steps to further enhance its emission controls at our facilities. A number of years ago, we began a dialogue with the Ohio EPA on these matters, a dialogue that continues. We are fully cooperating with the Ohio EPA to address any concerns that they may have.”
