The federal government is continuing to keep the heat on Tonawanda Coke Corp.

Thursday, the embattled coke plant in the Town of Tonawanda was ordered by the

Environmental Protection Agency to correct deficient operating procedures and explain two

releases of coke oven gas last month and in 2009 from equipment and power failures.

"We are paying attention to the entire operation at their facility," said EPA Western New

York spokesman Michael Basile. "We continue to look at their operation from air level, from

water, from disposal practices of hazardous waste on the site."

Basile said the company is giving Tonawanda Coke "an opportunity to correct these

violations and show us they do have proper backup systems so this can be prevented in the

future."

The coke plant also was cited in a separate action for violating the Clean Air Act.

"This provision of the Clean Air Act is only used when there is serious risk of accidental

releases because a facility is poorly operated," EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said

in a statement.

The EPA order requires that the plant investigate what caused the incidents and report its

findings for review. The work must be carried out by an engineer first approved by the EPA,

and the company must document that its recommendations, repairs and other improvements have

been implemented.

Inspectors from the EPA regional office in New York City have been in and out of the coke

foundry since last April, but enforcement activity has stepped up in the past several months.

Earlier this year, the EPA and state Department of Environmental Conservation issued

several enforcement actions against Tonawanda Coke for environmental violations.

The head of an environmental organization that has waged a campaign for years to get

governmental action against Tonawanda Coke lauded the EPA for taking action.

"The EPA has been relentless at Tonawanda Coke. This shows the agency is listening to what

people in the community have been saying," said Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean

Air Coalition.

"It was just several weeks ago that we received calls that 20- or 30-foot flames could be

seen coming from the tops of the coke oven batteries," she said.

The coke oven gas — whose contents include hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which in

excessive amounts can cause irritation to the eyes, nose or throat, and make breathing

difficult — went up in the flares because equipment malfunctions didn't allow for its

treatment in the facility.