YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The State Controlling board will consider nearly $600,000 for environmental assessments of two Mahoning Valley sites when it meets next week.
The two grants, if awarded from the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund, would be used to perform Phase II environmental assessments on the property of the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube seamless tube mill in Youngstown and the site of a former U.S. Steel Corp. mill in the village of McDonald. The board is considering grants of $291,649 for the McDonald site and $299,085 for the Youngstown site.
The assessments will determine the environmental suitability of the sites and possible need for any remediation, according to state documents. Phase I assessments have been completed at these locations.
Owned by U.S. Steel, the 67-acre McDonald site is adjacent to McDonald Steel Corp., Steel & Alloy Utility Products Inc. and Amrod Bridge & Iron LLC, said Dan Mamula, manager of the Mahoning River Corridor Initiative. "It's a nice piece of property," he remarked.
The 70-acre Youngstown site is part of 110 acres of former Sheet & Tube property stretching into Campbell that's now owned by Sherman International, Pittsburgh, said T. Sharon Woodberry, city economic development director.
In June 2010, Sherman, amid much media fanfare, announced its intent to build a multimillion-dollar steel mill on the Campbell property, where the former Sheet & Tube Campbell Works was located, with eventual expansion plans for the Youngstown portion of the property.
“At this point, it’s just testing it” to see what has to happen in terms of environmental cleanup, Woodberry said. “There’s no project yet for this site,” she added.
Although there have been “some discussions” regarding Sherman's proposal, Woodbury said she is unaware of any recent activity regarding the proposal.
For the McDonald site, the money would fund installation of 103 soil borings, 26 shallow groundwater monitoring wells and three deep groundwater monitoring wells, as well as a geophysical survey, data evaluation and reporting. In Youngstown, the funds would cover the costs of 87 soil borings, 36 shallow groundwater monitoring wells and three deep groundwater monitoring wells, in addition to an asbestos survey, data evaluation and reporting.
McDonald Mayor Glenn Holmes said he has received some “casual interest” in the property. With oil and gas industry starting to develop in the Mahoning Valley, “You don’t know who might want” the property, he mused.
“Why build on greenspace when you can revitalize that industrial land and reutilize it?” Holmes questioned.
The site would be ineligible for cleanup funds unless it is transferred from U.S. Steel’s ownership, whether to a community improvement corporation or private owner, Mamula explained. “U.S. Steel is the original polluter” and “can’t benefit from this,” he said.
Mamula is confident that the McDonald property “can be reutilized fairly attractively” but is concerned that cleanup funds could be at risk because Clean Ohio funds were shifted by the administration of Gov. John Kasich to JobsOhio, the public-private corporation the state formed last year to pursue economic development.
“I’m not sure how much funding is going to be available to do remediation work and assessment work,” Mamula remarked. He had heard an announcement that $43 million had been set aside, but isn’t sure whether the program would operate as it had in the past.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.