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Town Hall Oct 10, 2024: SCC Calls for permanent end of pyrolysis Plans in Youngstown Ohio

SOBE Concerned Citizen
Oct 7, 20243 min read

Updated: Oct 10, 2024

SOBE Concerned Citizens to Hold October 10th Town Hall Meeting to Call for a Permanent Stop to SOBE Thermal’s Proposed Pyrolysis Project


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 8, 2024

Contact:

SOBE Concerned Citizens  330-333-8410

Lynn Anderson   330-792-0428

Susie Beiersdorfer   330-881-1050


YOUNGSTOWN - SOBE Concerned Citizens (SCC) announces a public Town Hall meeting:


Thursday, October 10th 6-8 pm

1105 Elm Street, on Wick Park

(First Unitarian Universalist Church) Youngstown, Ohio 44505

Free and open to the public: food will be served, accessibility elevator

We will come together to make plans for the renewal of the City of Youngstown’s Moratorium Ordinance, which will expire on December 26, 2024.  The ordinance prohibits any gasification or pyrolysis operations in Youngstown due to concerns about air pollution and health impacts that the SOBE Thermal Energy Solutions LLC pyrolysis plant or similar plant may cause. SOBE seeks to change its operating procedure from only producing steam heating and cooling to superheating shredded tires to produce synthetic gas. This industrial expansion could release toxins into the atmosphere and has been classified by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard as a highly explosive hazard.


Air emissions from this type of operation would threaten public health, so SCC has 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, which prevents SOBE Thermal from building and operating a pyrolysis plant next to our vibrant downtown and a populated neighborhood. 


SCC worked diligently with Youngstown City Council and Mayor Jamael T. Brown to pass a one year moratorium ordinance on Dec. 26, 2023 prohibiting any gasification or pyrolysis operations in Youngstown. 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 pyrolysis operations in the Mixed-Use Community zone, and (2) to guarantee the moratorium’s renewal. 


The Town Hall meeting will have a full agenda of speakers including:


SCC continues to be vigilant by watching for any request by SOBE Thermal Energy for a zoning variance or a building permit. Pyrolysis activity in this location would be contrary to Youngstown Zoning Code.


SCC supports the City of Youngstown’s appeal of the OH EPA air pollution permit issued to SOBE Thermal on February 14, 2024. The city filed with the Environmental Review Appeals Commission on March 15, 2024 protesting OH EPA’s issuance of this permit for an experimental, untested process that has never been used by industry, and never been proven safe.


SCC continues to call for the Ohio EPA to represent the people, not the polluters.


SCC is 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 and Sustainable Technology Committee, the Youngstown City Council, and the Mayor for using their authority to prevent 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! Zoom link for those unable to attend in person: https://zoom.us/j/324513381


You can read the Ordinance implementing the moratorium on pyrolysis operations here: ORD-23-470.pdf


Contact and information: SOBE Concerned Citizens and Sustainable Youngstown’s phone: 330-333-8410


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