Pittsburgh - A federal judge in U.S. District Court has approved a settlement between Clean Water Action and Horsehead Corp. concerning Clean Water Action's lawsuit alleging violations of the Clean Water Act at the company's zinc smelter in Monaca, PA on the Ohio River outside of Pittsburgh.

Key elements of the proposed settlement include:

• Horsehead will pay a penalty of $15,000 for past Clean Water Act violations. As additional mitigation for past violations, Horsehead will contribute to two local environmental projects.
• The first project involves a donation by Horsehead of 15 acres of ecologically significant land along Raccoon Creek in Beaver County to the Independence Conservancy and a $15,000 donation to the Conservancy for maintenance and preservation of the land.
• The second project consists of a $10,000 donation to the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. The Center will utilize the funds for water quality research and public education in the Pittsburgh area.
• Horsehead has agreed to automatic fines to be paid in the event of future violations at the Monaca plant and has agreed to undertake a corrective action plan if there is a significant level of violations in the future.
• Horsehead has agreed to continue enhanced maintenance procedures that have yielded improved performance during the past year.

"We are pleased to be able to reach this settlement with Horsehead Corporation," stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action. "The company was willing to sit down in good faith and provide both compensation for past violations as well as establish a clear mechanism to deal with any future violations at their plant."

Michael Fiorentino, an attorney who represented Clean Water Action through the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center stated, "There are clear water quality benefits to this agreement, as well as benefits to local residents. When incidents of water discharge permit violations can be reduced to this extent, we see an example of the considerable public value of citizen suit litigation."

One area that the parties could not reach agreement on concerned a fly ash landfill that Horsehead operates which continues to have violations of selenium discharges. The parties agreed to set aside this issue until DEP finalizes Horsehead's application for renewal of their Clean Water Act permit. Nevertheless, under the settlement, Horsehead will be required to pay fines for future violations from the fly ash landfill.

The settlement between Clean Water Action and Horsehead Corp. resulted from negotiations initiated following the filing of a citizen suit under the Clean Water Act in December, 2008 by Clean Water Action. The suit alleged that Horsehead's zinc smelter, the largest in the U.S., had committed 135 violations of their water discharge permit into the Ohio River and Raccoon Creek between 2004 and 2008.

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Clean Water Action is an environmental organization with over 150,000 members in Pennsylvania. Clean Water Action works to empower residents to take action to protect our waters, build healthy communities, and make democrary work for all of us.

Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center is a not-for-profit environmental law firm that provides legal services to organizations in environmental matters. The Center works to ensure that environmental requirements are met, and that legislation and regulations are adequately implemented by responsible federal, state and local agencies. The Center is located at Widener University School of Law. www.maelc.org