First it was the air and soil, and now the water is showing signs of contaminants as a result of operations at Tonawanda Coke Corp.

According to an order issued Aug. 6 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tonawanda Coke is discharging industrial wastewater containing cyanide in excess of its permit limits into the town of Tonawanda’s sanitary sewer syst which ultimately discharges into the Niagara River from the town’s wastewater treatment facility.

Cyanide is a toxic chemical compound, and excessive amounts may adversely impact human health, fish and wildlife.

“Cyanide is toxic and cannot be discharged in amounts that exceed the limits specified in the facility’s permit,” Judith Enck, EPA regional administrator, said in a release issued Thursday. “If left unchecked and uncontrolled, industrial discharges pollute the environment and may threaten public health. We will continue to work with the state to identify and get the company to rectify the many violations of various environmental laws at this facility.”

Ken Maving, chief operator of the Town of Tonawanda’s Water Resources Department, confirmed that Tonawanda Coke has exceeded its cyanide discharge limit but that the town’s Water Treatment Plant filters out some of the cyanide so as not to exceed the town’s discharge limits into the Niagara River.

“We are working with the EPA because Tonawanda Coke needs to upgrade some of its [equipment] so that they stop exceeding the discharge limits,” he said.

Maving added that the town has never exceeded the cyanide discharge limit as set forth in its permit, which is issued by the state Department of Conservation.

“We ’ve discharged about one-third of what the limit is for the town ... very little cyanide goes into the Niagara River,” he said.

Maving added that every time Tonawanda Coke exceeded its cyanide discharge limits, his department would issue a violation notice.

“Over the last year, we have issued numerous notices and we have fined them,” he said.

Michael Basile, an EPA spokesperson, said the permit allows Tonawanda Coke to discharge 1.1 milligrams of cyanide per one liter sample

“In the last five or six months Tonawanda Coke has far exceeded this amount. At times it has been as high as 4.4 [milligrams per liter]. In June and July, there has been a slight decrease,” he said.

The EPA is ordering the coke manufacturing to reduce the discharge of the chemical.

Basile said Tonawanda Coke has 30 days from the day the order was submitted to come up with a plan to reach compliance. Then it has 120 days to implement the plan and become compliant.

Failure to do so would be a violation of the Clean Water Act permit that the EPA granted to the facility, said Basile.

The Clean Water Act gives EPA the authority to set effluent limits on an industrywide basis and on a water-quality basis that ensure protection of the receiving water.

EPA is also ordering Tonawanda Coke to properly monitor and treat the wastewater that results from the coke-making process.

Under EPA’s order, Tonawanda Coke is required to complete the overdue installation of pollution controls, improve monitoring and provide additional information about operations at the facility.

“Failure to abide by the Clean Water Act can result in chemicals and contamination reaching our waterways,” said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis. “We will continue to work with EPA to vigorously monitor Tonawanda Coke and ensure that all environmental laws are being followed.”

The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York — an environmental group based out of the Town of Tonawanda — lauded the E PA ’s latest actions at Tonawanda Coke.

“It’s nice to see that the EPA didn’t just come here to make a splash and then leave the area. They are following up on everything as promised,” said Erin Heaney, the Coalition’s executive director. “They’ve identified yet another toxic threat from Tonawanda Coke and taken swift action to protect human health and the environment. Tonawanda Coke must now act quickly to make the changes necessary to protect residents, and you can be sure the community will be watching to ensure that happens.”

In 2009, EPA and the state Department of Environmental Conservation conducted a comprehensive series of inspections of the Tonawanda Coke facility to determine its compliance with federal laws and regulations.

The agencies found that Tonawanda Coke was violating the Clean Water Act by allowing pipes and storage tanks to significantly degrade and leak, and by failing to provide adequate treatment of polluted stormwater runoff, resulting in illegal discharges of polluted wastewater through storm sewers that lead to the Niagara River.

The agencies also found multiple leaks of tar and process wastewater, and substantial corrosion of a tank meant to contain a substance known as “weak liquor,” a toxic by-product of the coke process that contains pollutants such as ammonia, cyanide and naphthalene.

In addition, the agencies found other areas that needed to be fixed in order to avoid potentially damaging spills and leaks.

As a result of those findings, on Dec. 17, 2009, EPA ordered the company to repair its wastewater pipes, replace its corroded tank, immediately stop unpermitted discharges of its process and non-process wastewater, and adopt other practices to remedy and prevent violations of the Clean Water Act.

More than six months later, Tonawanda Coke has completed some work, including replacing its corroded tank, but it has still not fully complied with the December 2009 order and has reported continued and additional violations of the pollution limits set in its industrial user permit.

EPA is issuing a new administrative order requiring Tonawanda Coke to complete the outstanding measures required by the original order, perform additional repairs and improvements, better monitor its processes and effluence, and provide additional information to the EPA and DEC.

Under this new order, Tonawanda Coke must comply with the original administrative order, certify in writing which of the items have been corrected, and complete all outstanding items.

In addition, the facility must comply with the cyanide limits in its permit, improve its best management practices, which are intended to control water pollution at the site, install a flow meter for process wastewater in the correct location, conduct additional auditing to identify any cross connections between process and non-process wastewater sewers, certify that no process wastewater is getting into the cooling and storm systems, install a coal pile runoff treatment system to ensure compliance with effluent limits and ensure that the required pollution controls are installed and working properly.

For more information about E PA ’s actions at Tonawanda Coke, visit www.epa.gov/region 02/capp/tonawanda.html.

e-mail: ddonohue@beenews.com