Sale of Yorkville Plant on Hold - WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville

The closing of the sale on the Yorkville Steel plant is on hold  due to a violation that happened back in 2010.

Esmark, who plans to buy the Yorkville plant, found out about the hazardous waste leak from the EPA one day before the sale would have been final. Esmark owner Jim Bouchard said if it's a mandatory clean up, Esmark will not buy the plant.

Esmark hasn't given up from getting the site into an Ohio Brownsfield program and getting the help they need to clean it up.

They are working closely with the state of Ohio and local USW officials to resolve the issue.

"Please stay calm. Our intent is to close it. However if we can't get resolution on the EPA issue we can't close it. But if we do get resolution we literally will pull the trigger and wire the money within minutes and then we'll try to get people back to work and get Yorkville running again," says Bouchard.

If everything gets solved, Esmark will order hot roll product then start phasing production up to 40,000 tons a month which will ensure people getting back to work within 60 days.

The next step would be to close on the sale, transfer funds, then all workers would be notified for a time to get back to work.