USWA: Oregon Steel Fined Record Amount in Colorado Air Pollution Case - $1 million; Company...

Business Editors

PUEBLO, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 2001

The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) today applauded a record-setting fine of $1,000,000 that the State of Colorado has imposed on Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. (NYSE:OS) -- the largest-ever known fine brought by the

State of Colorado for air pollution violations. The USWA announced that it will continue to pursue its own suit against Oregon Steel's CF&I Steel subsidiary (now doing business as Rocky Mountain Steel Mills) over the company's failure to comply with both the federal Clean Air Act and Colorado environmental regulations and limitations. "We are pleased that the State and the Court have affirmed the truth of what the company's workers have been saying for years -- that the company pollutes the air in violation of health-based limits," said John Perquin, USWA Assistant to the International Secretary-Treasurer. "The company settled because workers and neighbors of the mill were ready to come forward and testify to massive pollution from the mill. The combination of labor, environmental and community leaders finally woke the company up to its legal responsibilities. However, this company has promised twice before to stop violating the air pollution laws, and yet has continued to do so. We will be monitoring the implementation of this settlement agreement." As part of the settlement, the company agreed to allow an independent air monitor to be stationed on site twenty-four hours a day. The company will be required to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in new pollution control equipment. About $400,000 of the fine will be set aside in a trust fund for community environmental projects in Pueblo.

The settlement of the State's lawsuit follows the Steelworkers' efforts over the past two years to gain public hearings on the company's air pollution violations and enforcement of the Colorado air pollution laws. "After years of allowing CF&I to abuse the system, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE) finally heard our public outcry and took action to make this company obey the laws everyone else must observe," said John Perquin, USWA Assistant to the International Secretary-Treasurer. "Instead of enforcing the law and compelling the company to correct its emissions violations, the state engaged CF&I in a years-long series of negotiations. The filing of our lawsuit spurred the state to action. Whether by the State or by public groups like the USWA and Better Pueblo, CF&I needs to be held responsible, and we are glad that it finally will be," Perquin continued.

Section 304 of the Clean Air Act authorizes any person to bring a lawsuit in federal district court against a person who is alleged to have violated an emission standard, limitation or order issued by an administrator or a state with respect to these standards or limitations. The USWA filed its suit last year after filing its public notice of intent to sue in December 1999.

Further environmental pollution actions continue to hang over the company. One such action involves the company's failure to comply with New Source Performance Standards related to construction of one of the company's electrical arc furnaces that began in the late-1970s. The EPA has determined that those stricter standards do apply to the furnace in question.