AK Steel Holding (AKS)

Safety and Customer Awards, Landmark Environmental Progress

During the first quarter, AK Steel was honored, for the eighth time, with an award for the safest coke plant operation in the industry. AK Steel’s Ashland (KY) Works coke department took first place for the first time, with the Middletown Works coke department taking second place, in honors presented by the American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute.

In addition, the company’s Rockport (IN) Works was re-certified in the first quarter as an OSHA Star plant under the Voluntary Protection Plan. AK Tube LLC’s Columbus (IN) plant also achieved its initial OSHA VPP certification during the first quarter.

AK Steel also announced early in April that it had reached a landmark agreement with state and federal agencies to settle longstanding environmental claims associated with its Middletown Works. Upon approval by federal court, the company will embark on a comprehensive plan of environmental remediation in and near the Middletown plant, including in and along Dicks Creek and its Monroe Ditch tributary, urban waterways that flow adjacent to the Middletown Works. The company said it expects to spend in excess of $13 million over a period of years on the project.