Consent decree focuses on manganese emissions at Pennsylvania-Ohio plant

A proposed consent decree with S.H. Bell Co. would require the company to clean up elevated manganese emissions at its plant on Pennsylvania-Ohio border, the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department said in a release on the EPA's website.

An EPA assessment of two towns near the 92-acre S.H. Bell-owned plant found that the facility created or added to elevated levels of manganese, potentially impacting residents in and around Ohioville, Pennsylvania, and East Liverpool, Ohio, the release said.

EPA cited the company for noncompliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as well as the Clean Air Act.

EPA filed the proposal in a Cleveland federal district court, pointing out that airborne manganese particles can endanger the health of nearby residents, the release said.

Naturally occurring in soil, rock and foods and useful for industrial manufacturing, manganese is considered unsafe for humans at excessive levels, with the potential to disrupt the neurological system.

S.H. Bell has already agreed to several terms of the consent decree including dust control, tracking and monitoring and corrective action.

Pittsburgh-based S.H. Bell serves producers, distributors and consumers of metals, minerals and other industrial products.