LITTLE ROCK — A steel company is asking a state appeals court to reverse a regulatory panel's decision to approve an air permit for a rival's $1.1 billion plant in northeast Arkansas.
An attorney for Nucor Steel told a three-judge panel of the Arkansas Court of Appeals that the state's Pollution Control and Ecology Commission didn't follow the law when it approved the permit for the Big River Steel facility under construction in Osceola. Nucor operates a mill about 20 miles away from the Big River site.
Attorneys for Big River Steel and the state told the court that the commission followed the law in approving the permit. Big River Steel's attorney argued that Nucor's suit was motivated by business completion and not the law.
Construction on the Big River Steel mill began last year.