It is reported that the former owner of a Gahanna steel drum recycling plant will pay the state more than USD 240,000 to settle a 2006 pollution lawsuit.

As per report, Franklin Steel Co, which began a USD 1.35 million environmental cleanup two years ago, will pay the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency a USD 50,000 fine in addition to USD 191,096.71 that the agency said it cost to look for pollutants on the 38 acre site and in a nearby stream.

The plant, commonly called Columbus Steel Drum and now owned by Industrial Container Services, cleans and recycles 55 gallon drums that once contained chemicals or waste.

The Ohio EPA ordered a cleanup in 1992 after tests found that dozens of toxic metals and compounds had contaminated soil, groundwater and the stream called Unzinger Ditch. The settlement was filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

(Sourced from www.dispatch.com)