Environmental concerns over SunCoke’s 100-oven coking coal plant in Ohio’s southwest Middleton area have been the cause of an intense backlash from the city of Monroe since the project was proposed in 2008.

SunCoke said the latest settlement with the City of Monroe, the Natural Resources Defence Council, resident Robert Snook and SunCoke Watch validates the plant’s safety and environmental protection protocols.

The agreement still subject to approval by the Environmental Review Appeals Commission of Ohio is expected to put the four-year struggle of litigation to rest.

“We are pleased this agreement recognizes the pollution control standards and technologies SunCoke already has in place,” SunCoke president and chief executive Mike Thomson said.

“In addition to providing quality jobs in the community, SunCoke strives to be an involved neighbor working with the greater community to make it stronger.

“This settlement enables us to move forward and continue to do just that.”

Earlier this month, the company proposed a settlement that would progress a number of environmental measures as well as recoup $US1.15 million in legal fees for the community, Ohio’s Middletown Journal said.

Environmental programs to be implemented as part of the agreement would include a $1 million dust control system, a 10-foot berm around stockpiles, tree plantings, emission reductions practices and air monitoring equipment for the plant.

In Q1 2012, SunCoke produced an estimated 37,000 tons more coke than in the same period of 2011 and said its total US cokemaking capacity utilization was 100% in Q1 2012, up from 95% in Q1 2011.

SunCoke’s facilities are located in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Vitoria in Brazil.