One year later: SOBE Concerned Citizens continue call for permanent stop at SOBE plant
SOBE Concerned Citizens are calling attention to the one year anniversary of the August 10, 2023 Public Hearing at the Eugenia Atkinson Center convened by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA).
This meeting was a required Public Comment opportunity for citizens to respond to Ohio EPA’s then-DRAFT permit-to-install-and-operate a pyrolysis “Thermolyzer” in Youngstown, which was issued on July 6, 2023 to SOBE Thermal Energy.
The August 10, 2023 public hearing was attended by hundreds of Youngstown citizens who expressed their opposition to the issuance of the DRAFT air pollution permit for SOBE Thermal with questions, concerns, and recorded testimonies.
During the Public Comment period from July 6 through September 10, 2024 hundreds of Youngstown residents sent in postcards to the Ohio EPA to protest the siting of this pyrolysis operation next to our neighborhoods, businesses, student housing, and revitalized downtown.
SOBE Concerned Citizens commissioned an expert permit engineer to analyze Ohio EPA’s Draft Air Pollution permit and submit their report to the Ohio EPA during the comment period.
SCC published the 90 page result online.
John Mooney, Director of the US EPA Region 5 Air and Radiation Division, ordered the Ohio EPA to further incorporate Environmental Justice considerations into the rewriting of this draft permit since Youngstown is designated an EPA Environmental Justice Community of Concern. It appears that the Ohio EPA did not reevaluate or address Director Mooney’s concerns.
SOBE Concerned Citizens continue to call attention to the fact that hundreds of Youngstown citizens’ voices were ignored by the Ohio EPA when they issued a FINAL air pollution permit to SOBE Thermal Energy on February 14, 2024.
SOBE Concerned Citizens have worked hard to ensure that Youngstown city zoning laws are enforced. The site proposed for the pyrolysis plant by SOBE Thermal is in a Mixed-Use Community district under the Youngstown zoning code and, as a result, prevents SOBE Thermal from building and operating a pyrolysis plant next to our vibrant downtown, near a populated neighborhood.
We also worked hard to get Youngstown City Council and Mayor Jamael T. Brown to pass an ordinance on Dec. 26, 2023 temporarily prohibiting any gasification or pyrolysis operations in Youngstown due to concerns about unknown pollution and health impacts that the pyrolysis plant may cause. This moratorium ordinance expires in December 2024. We urge Youngstown citizens to get active in contacting their city council representatives and Mayor to ensure (1) that the zoning code is enforced, which prohibits SOBE Thermal from operating in the Mixed-Use Community zone, and (2) to guarantee the moratorium’s renewal.
SOBE Concerned Citizens applauded the city of Youngstown for submitting an appeal to the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC) on March 15, 2024 challenging Ohio EPA’s granting of the final permit-to-operate for SOBE Thermal Energy. While it is important to challenge the EPA’s issuance of the air permit, we stand in firm resolve that both the zoning designation and the moratorium prevent SOBE Thermal from building a new pyrolysis facility at 205 North Avenue, regardless of the approval of the air permit.
SOBE Thermal’s natural gas-fired facility that heats and cools some downtown buildings is the only purpose that has been approved in this Mixed-Use Community zoned area next to our revitalized downtown as a result of its legacy status since this aspect was in operation prior to the zoning designation implemented in 2013.
SOBE Concerned Citizens attended the meeting of the Youngstown City Council CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY committee on June 13, 2024, and heard from an Assistant Attorney for the city that SOBE Thermal Energy missed the May 1 deadline for designating who its legal counsel is to ERAC.
On August 7, 2024, ERAC renewed their requirement that SOBE Thermal communicate to the hearing officer and parties to the matter who it has retained as legal counsel by September 6, 2024, and requiring the City of Youngstown and Ohio EPA to provide another joint status report no later than October 29, 2024.
Youngstown residents are all shockingly aware of catastrophic consequences of human error (May 28, 2024 Realty Building explosion). We also experienced the frustration and angst due to the evacuation of downtown Youngstown buildings and YSU because of a purported “gas leak” on June 15, 2024, and we still have no information regarding the cause.
SOBE Concerned Citizens continue to be vigilant by watching for any request by SOBE Thermal Energy for a zoning variance or a building permit. We are grateful for the many residents of Youngstown and beyond who have joined our efforts to keep polluting industries out of our city.
We are grateful for the CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY Committee, the Youngstown City Council, and the Mayor for using their authority in preventing harm to the residents they represent. We all want Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley to be a healthy place to live now and into the future. Please join us!
You can read the Ordinance implementing the moratorium on pyrolysis here: ORD-23-470.pdf