U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is asking the federal EPA to allow Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet to take responsibility for the cleanup of AK Steel’s former coke plant in Ashland. The firm shut down the facility in 2011 because it was considered "non-compliant" with the Federal Clean Air Act.
McConnell says Ashland officials are anxious to market the site to other businesses but can’t do that until environmental remediation takes place. The Republican believes that would happen sooner if the state was in charge…
"That can be done administratively...I talked to the EPA about it a couple of days ago. The AK Steel site has some cleanup problems...the question is, who would get it cleaned up quicker? We believe, and the people in Ashland believe, that cleanup would be done much quicker at the state level." - Mitch McConnell
McConnell says the quicker the site gets cleaned up, the quicker the land becomes available for other uses.