New trial date set in Newport's case against River Metals. Where are talks now?

A trial date has been set for criminal charges against the River Metals Recycling facility in Newport even though officials previously said the parties were working on fixes.

The new trial date is set for March 5, Campbell County District Court records show. It is a bench trial, meaning the verdict will be decided by a judge instead of a jury.

Officials with the city and company announced earlier this year that legal action had been put on hold while they hashed out remedies to residents’ concerns, namely recurring explosions and fires, but those talks haven’t borne fruit.

Here’s what to know about the charges and why the issues haven’t been resolved out of court:

What’s the case against River Metals Recycling about?

The misdemeanor noise charges filed against River Metals came in response to years of complaints of explosions coming from the company’s Newport facility.

Explosions numbered 47 in 2020, 62 in 2021 and 51 in 2022, city and neighborhood officials have said.

Newport City Manager Thomas Fromme didn’t have this year’s total immediately available when reached by The Enquirer on Friday, but he said explosions remain an ongoing issue.

Newport’s Clifton Neighborhood Association began lobbying several years ago for River Metals and associated companies to address problems at the Newport plant and to modernize equipment there.

A lawsuit filed in 2020 by a Newport resident against River Metals claims the value of his home has been damaged by noise, vibrations and odors coming from the plant. That suit is still ongoing.

Officials have said the city began pursuing charges after a sound barrier wall erected by the company in 2021 failed to remedy problems.

The facility includes a large shredder that’s capable of scrapping crushed cars, according to court records. Occasionally, a propane or gas tank will slip through the metals screening process, causing the tanks to combust when passing through the shredder.

Fromme said River Metals should be doing a better job of screening out those tanks.

How would agreement solve issues?

In August, officials announced the criminal proceedings would be postponed as the company worked to implement improvements.

Those included new equipment intended to reduce processing noise and limit the risk of combustion at the Licking Pike facility.

Officials said the company was purchasing a fire detection and suppression system that can detect emerging hot spots and reduce the risk of fires breaking out at the facility, another problem residents have complained about.

The company's total investment in making improvements to the Newport facility was estimated to be $5.5 million, with the addition of more than $600,000 in operating costs annually.

What does Newport say?

While it is still possible the city and River Metals may come to terms before the trial, that hasn’t happened yet, according to Fromme, the city manager.

He did not say whether there was a specific issue holding up negotiations, nor did he place blame on either side.

“We have a certain vision, I mean, we want certain protections for our residents and for the city, and that's really what it's about,” Fromme said. “We're trying to get as tight as an agreement as we possibly can with River Metals.”

He said that Newport has worked with the company for years on finding a solution and that there needs to finally be a resolution.

“If we don’t reach an agreement with them, we’re prepared to go forward with court and just let the chips fall where they may with that,” Fromme added.

What does River Metals say?

A lawyer representing River Metals has yet to respond to a phone call and email from The Enquirer requesting comment.

In court documents, the company has said the charges are based entirely on sound monitoring carried out by a third-party company hired by Newport.

River Metals says the sound monitoring equipment the company used didn’t comply with Newport’s zoning code standards, that it wasn’t calibrated per the manufacturer’s requirements and that the company’s methodology “did not comply with common acoustical analysis practices.”

What is River Metals Recycling?

River Metals’ facility in Newport is one of 19 locations the Fort Mitchell-based company operates across Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee and West Virginia. Those facilities include two in Cincinnati, as well as plants in Harrison and Xenia.

The company was first formed in 1998, but the site has been in operation as a metal recycling facility since the late 1940s. A shredder has been in operation there since at least 1979.

It is wholly owned by the downtown Cincinnati-based David J. Joseph Company, a subsidiary of Nucor Corporation, a steel manufacturing company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, which also operates a plant in Gallatin County.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: River Metals case: New trial date set; talks yet to bring solutions