In 2013 industries dumped 23 million pounds of chemicals into the Ohio River, making it the most polluted body of water in the United States for the 7th year in a row. But one company alone, AK Steel, released 73% of those chemicals.
An EPA report based on its Toxics Release Inventory for 2012, showed that Indiana, where the AK Rockport plant is located, ranked first in the nation for toxic chemicals released into its waters and fourth for pounds of cancer-causing chemicals.
Based on those findings the EPA finally proposed a rule last year aimed at closing loopholes that have undermined the Clean Water Act. However, as expected, industry, and now the GOP-dominated Congress are vigorously opposing this effort.
AK’s Rockport plant has not only trashed the Ohio River, it was found to be the single biggest polluting facility in the country. The Ohio River should be clean enough for drinking and swimming and to support wildlife. But it won’t be unless public outcry stops AK Steel from destroying it.
Sign this petition to demand AK Steel stop dumping toxic chemicals into the Ohio River.
We, the undersigned, say we cannot wait on the EPA’s new rule to stop AK Steel from dumping in the Ohio. This blatant disregard for our waterways and the environment calls for public outcry.
Last year environmental groups expressed hope in EPA’s new rule effort to restore Clean Water Act protections to polluted waterways, however, industries are opposing the new rule and any effective solution to this outrageously dangerous pollution.
One advocacy group, the Environment America Research and Policy Center, released a very grim report last year on the chemicals being dumped in the river. It found cancer-causing, developmental and reproductive chemicals that persist in the environment and have the potential to cause a whole range of problems for children from birth defects to the way they grow, learn and behave.
As solutions, the group had proposed substituting less toxic chemicals for the ones now being used by industry and especially restoring Clean Water Act Protections.
But it seems clear that AK Steel has no interest in changing its polluting ways, as it increased the number of pounds it dumped in 2013 to nearly 17 million, up from 14 million in 2012. AK and other industries apparently feel certain the EPA’s proposed rule will not make it through the GOP-run Congress.
We are outraged by AK Steel's blatant disregard for the Clean Water Act, and we demand this company stop dumping toxic chemicals into the Ohio River or any other waterway.
