The sale of the RG Steel facility in Yorkville to Esmark is still up in the air as of Tuesday because of an environmental issue that arose before RG Steel's bankruptcy proceedings started.


While Esmark was trying to buy the Yorkville facility, Esmark discovered an ongoing concern from the Ohio and Federal Environmental Protection Agencies about contamination.

"Esmark has had an expert in there (who) was going around and checked to see what areas need remediation. There was also a crew in there last week, and they should be finishing up sometime this week that were actually doing groundwater sampling in the plant," USW Local 1223 President Jerry Conners. "I'm hoping that a remediation plan may be put forward by the end of the month."


Conners said the federal EPA is waiting for Esmark to put forth a remediation play, which Conners said he hopes will be done by the end of the month.


"They will go over the plan if it is a credible plan. From what I can understand, they will sign off on it and allow that plan to then be turned over to the Ohio EPA and allow the remediation to go forward from there," Conners said. "Unless this is a problem that can be fixed, there's no use in negotiating a contract."

Conners said he expected to revisit the issue sometime in November but said now he anticipates it will be December or January.

An initial filing in bankruptcy court suggested the remediation could cost anywhere from $800,000 to $2 million.


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