UPDATE — Barbara Nielson, project manager for Freeport-McMoRan, introduced herself during a public meeting regrading clean-up of the former Satralloy site in Cross Creek Township Tuesday. -- Christopher Dacanay

CROSS CREEK TOWNSHIP — Cyprus Amax Minerals Co., owner of the former Satralloy site, told the public of its plans to incapsulate slag on the site, which has been mired in industrial waste for decades, during a meeting at Kolmont Community Church Tuesday.

The approximately 333.5-acre site, a ferrochrome alloy refinery from 1957 until 1982, is located along county Road 74 and overlooks Cross Creek. Remaining on the site are roughly 50 acres of chromium waste and slag piles found to contain hexavalent chromium, which is a byproduct of the chromium smelting process.

Just over four years ago, Cyprus Amax hosted a community meeting at Kolmont Community Church detailing the site’s clean-up, which Cyprus Amax agreed to do in 2010 after a court order was issued establishing the company’s responsibility for the site. Cyprus Amax itself never owned or operated the site but acquired it through a tax sale in 2010.

Present Tuesday to provide project updates were representatives from Cyprus Amax and Freeport-McMoRan, which purchased the property in 2007, as well as officials with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which has been collaborating with Cyprus Amax throughout the clean-up.

Barbara Nielson, project manager for Freeport-McMoRan, told attendees that the ultimate plan for the site is to consolidate its entire 1.8 million tons of slag and encapsulate it on a hill — formerly the site of a coal mine — under a layer of soil.

“You’re gong to see us building a mountain,” Nielson said.

The project will take place over five years and five phases, with work commending in the second half of 2024 and ending in 2029, Nielson said.

In addition to officials answering questions, information was given in the form of a poster display. One poster indicated that consolidation and encapsulation work will be performed by Houston-based Remedial Construction Services on weekdays for 10 hours per day. Up to 40 pieces of heavy equipment will be utilized, and bulk delivery of materials will be transported mostly via a rail spur on the site.

According to a fact sheet on the site, remedial investigations — including ecological and human health risk assessments — were performed, and interim action was taken toward abatement and disposal of hazardous materials connected to the site’s mill buildings, which were demolished by ReCon.

The sheet states that environmental permits related to construction have been obtained for water quality, wetlands and air quality. Further, preparation has been done on the Interim Action Slag Consolidation Work Plan, which was approved by the Ohio EPA on Feb. 29.

Capping off the slag will require clearing and mulching vegetation in the consolidation and slag removal areas. Slag will be gathered along with impacted soils and covered in the consolidation area, which will then be graded.

A stormwater management system will control runoff in the affected areas, which will be revegetated once grading is complete. Nielson noted that reintroduced vegetation will be friendly to native animal populations, including bats and monarch butterflies.

Once construction is completed, the project will transition into an operation and maintenance phase for future management of the site.

Asked by a member of the public what Cyprus Amax’s plan for the reclaimed land is, Nielson said a final decision has not been made. However, she said, Cyprus Amax does not plan to hold onto the land, as it’s “not in the land business.”

“If we can get our desired (reclamation) goal in the lowland area, then it’s highly likely we’ll release the lowland area,” Nielson said.

Responding to another question, Nielson said the site’s slag is not toxic. The only toxic materials came from a furnace in the northern mill building. All hazardous waste is gone, and all that’s left is “solid waste,” she said. In the slag, there could be small amounts of hexavalent chromium, but most is another form of chromium that is not toxic, Nielson said.

Hexavalent chromium is a byproduct of the chromium smelting process known to increase one’s risk of cancer.

A member of the public asked Nielson about Cyprus Amax’s previous plans to construct and operate a slag treatment and metal recovery plant on the site. Nielson said a study indicated that the project was not viable and would have created more hexavalent chromium.