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MIDDLETOWN — An appeal of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's decision to approve the air permit for a new coke oven facility to be built locally by SunCoke Energy likely would not halt construction and could take years to process.

The permit, approved Tuesday, Nov. 25, by the Ohio EPA, allows SunCoke to begin construction on the facility, which will be adjacent to its only customer — AK Steel's Middletown Works.

However, the Ohio EPA has recommended the company delay site work at the parcel near the Monroe border until the issue of emission credits AK Steel earned when it closed a sinter plant in June 2003 are ironed out by the U.S. EPA.

The concern is whether construction would begin within the mandated five years since its closure. The U.S. EPA is reviewing the state agency's decision to use the application date as the start of construction.

Chris Walker, an attorney for the city of Monroe, has said he will appeal the permit approval with the Environmental Review Appeals Commission.

However, construction cannot be halted by the appeals process, unless the ERAC commission orders a stay of execution, said Linda Adams, office assistant for the agency.

"The commission has only granted three or four of those since it was created in 1972," she said.

And, it can take years for ERAC's three commissioners to make a ruling. Even then, the case can still be appealed to the court of appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court, she said.

"There is no set time frame, for the process. We have over 500 active cases, some of which have been going on for 10 years," she said.

Once an appeal is received, a preliminary hearing would be held within 30 days, and possibly a hearing set, Adams said.

If the decision is appealed to ERAC, the Ohio EPA would be represented by the Ohio Attorney General's Office, said Heather Lauer, spokeswoman for the agency.

SunCoke officials did not have any comment on when the company plans to begin construction.

Walker said the city also notified SunCoke in October it intends to file a Clean Air Act citizens' suit.

Monroe also plans to continue its efforts with the Ohio Power Siting Board, a division of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

"We had an adjudication hearing on Nov. 7, and the parties are now submitting their briefs to the Power Siting Board," he said.

For more information on how to file an appeal in the SunCoke air permit case, contact ERAC at (614) 466-8950.

Staff Writer Denise Wilson contributed to this report.