MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Marilyn Wall knows where to get the best pictures from. She’s taken people here before.
“There’s one of your mountains,” Wall said. “Have you named them yet?”
For almost a decade, Wall has fought to improve air quality in Middletown. And for much of that time, she’s worked with Donna Ballinger, a resident who lives less than 1,000 feet from one of the largest steel manufacturers in the country.
For Ballinger, the answer about those mountains is no. She'd rather pretend they didn't exist. But sitting in the passenger seat of Wall's car, she can't.
“Mountains of what?” I ask her.
“Coal,” Ballinger said.
WATCH: Researchers test for possible soil contamination near Cleveland-Cliffs
Outside her home, Ballinger wipes dust and what she says is material carried from a furnace producing steel off her car.
“When it’s booming, your house shakes. Your windows shake. Your floors shake,” Ballinger said. “You are actually feeling the anxious fear of what might happen.”
She tells me she washes her car windows every day before she drives anywhere. Then, she stops talking and covers her mouth. She points her finger in the direction of Cleveland-Cliffs’ 2,800-acre Middletown Works site.
“Don’t you smell it? It burns your nose,” Ballinger said. “It burns your eyes.”
The WCPO 9 I-team reported on Ballinger and her struggles in 2020. The investigation focused on an air nuisance rule that state and federal officials have been trying to get rid of.
Ballinger is now part of a lawsuit challenging that — again. She and other environmental activists like Wall say it’s one of the only ways for regular people to force companies to reduce potentially hazardous emissions. In a recent court filing, Ohio’s attorney general said removing the rule will save taxpayers thousands of dollars.
A WCPO analysis of state records in 2020 showed Ballinger complained about air quality 397 times over a three-year period.
“It hasn’t gotten any better,” she said.
Company says it invested heavily to reduce environmental impact
On a recent Friday morning, Ballinger called the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
“I got fallout and lots of strong odors that’s burning your throat,” Ballinger said.
An employee told her they will try to get someone out Monday, but to call again over the weekend. The employee thanked her by name. When Ballinger hung up the phone, she shrugged.
“They know me by heart.”
A few hours later, a professor and a few students from the University of Cincinnati take soil samples from her yard.
“The arsenic and lead concentrations in the soil in Donna’s yard, where we took them today, are very elevated,” said Bob Hyland, who works at UC’s school of environment and sustainability. “I feel bad for Donna. And at the same time, I admire her greatly.”
Hyland and his students are studying water and soil throughout Middletown. So far, the results have been alarming.
"I would be deeply concerned about health risks," Hyland said. "Especially for chronic exposure."
The Ohio EPA declined an interview request for this story, citing an ongoing enforcement matter regarding another nearby company. In an email, the spokesperson said the EPA hasn’t received any recent complaints about arsenic levels.
Cleveland-Cliffs also declined an on-camera interview request. But in a statement, a spokesperson said the company has “invested substantially” in improving its environmental performance since acquiring AK Steel in 2020. EPA officials conducted an assessment of the Middletown steel mill in 2024, the spokesperson said, and found emissions to be "well below health risk thresholds."
For Ballinger, this is par for the course.
“I just want them to do what’s right,” Ballinger said. “For the community — to do it for everyone, not just myself. That’s why I keep fighting.”
Have an issue?
Cleveland-Cliffs says residents can submit concerns online. It’s part of an outreach program, the spokesperson said, that was created to quickly address community concerns.
To report air quality concerns to state officials, you can call 513-946-7777 or submit a complaint online.
