Haverhill North Coking Company's $230 million expansion will not only provide more jobs to the Scioto County area, but more power as well.

More information about the second phase of the coke facility is to be released today.

Sunoco Inc. joined with the office of Gov. Ted Strickland and Scioto County Office of Development in announcing the actual specifications of the plans for a second Sun Coke Company coke production plant and a heat recovery plant in Haverhill.

The facility is expected to create 49 new jobs and maintain 70 current positions. It also will create 550 construction jobs for the new coke ovens and 150 construction jobs in the construction of a new power plant.

The additional 100 coke ovens will be 100 percent owned and operated by Sun Coke and have 100 Jewell Thompson Heat Recovery ovens that will produce approximately 550,000 tons of blast furnace coke per year.

The facility is designed to capture waste heat from the ovens to produce and supply steam to a 67-megawatt turbine, to provide a net average of 46 megawatts of power into the regional power market.

“We are pleased to proceed with the construction of an additional facility at our Haverhill, Ohio, location,” said Michael Dingus, senior vice president of Sunoco Inc., and president of Sun Coke Company.

“State and local incentives were important in making this expansion possible, and Sun Coke and its customers appreciate these efforts to support economic expansion in this region,” he said. “For Sunoco, this marks the next step in the growth of our coke business and will provide steady income and attractive returns to our shareholders.”

Sun Coke's process utilizes technology that eliminates coke oven emissions and is specifically referenced in the U.S. Clean Air Act as the “maximum achievable control technology” for coke production.

“This is great news for Scioto County, that Sun Coke has again decided to deploy a new plant of 100 coke ovens and the power plant in Scioto County,” said Steve Carter, executive director of economic development for Scioto County.

The first Haverhill coke plant also produces 550,000 tons of coke per year and began operation in March 2005.

The total cost to Sunoco is estimated at about $230 million, and full production is expected about 18 months after construction begins.

Carter said he expected groundbreaking to begin in March and for the project to be completed by Dec. 31, 2008.