Since the project was announced nearly two years ago, the now estimated $360 million coke oven facility has been caught up in various permitting issues and civil lawsuits. The plant would supply metallurgical coke, a vital steelmaking raw material, to AK Steel’s Middletown Works for at least the next 20 years and add about 500 temporary and 75 permanent jobs to the area if built.
Thomas Golembeski, spokesman for SunCoke, said the company remains “fully committed to the plant in Middletown” and is just waiting to hear from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on the status of their air permit.
SunCoke has been issued a draft New Source Review air permit by the Ohio EPA. It is still under review by that agency. This is the second air permit the company has sought for the local plant.
Some of the $360 million designated for the plant has already been invested through preliminary site work. Golembeski said since the plant would take 15 to 18 months to build some of the cost “would be in 2010 presumably if we get our permit shortly and some of it would be in 2011.”
In terms of Sunoco’s earnings, its coke business generated $180 million in 2009, according to the report. The company had released guidance that it expected $215 million in net income for 2009 from its coke division, but delays on the Middletown project and coal price changes affected results, said Brian MacDonald, chief financial officer for Sunoco.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.
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