Citizen Group Calls on Ohio EPA to Rescind SOBE Thermal Permit

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A local citizens group says it’s “outraged” over the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to issue permits for SOBE Thermal Energy Systems to build a synthetic fuel plant at its North Avenue site near downtown.

“Citizens of Youngstown feel that the Ohio EPA is obligated to protect the public health and safety and not to permit more sources of dangerous air pollution near our populated downtown,” the group SOBE Concerned Citizens said in a press release Thursday. “SOBE Concerned Citizens are outraged by the lack of concern by the Ohio EPA for the health and safety of the people of Youngstown.”

The group has asked that the OEPA rescind the permit.

On Wednesday, The Ohio EPA issued “an air permit-to-install-and-operate” to SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC for a Thermolyzer (pyrolysis) unit to process tire chips at its plant that is situated between North and Belmont avenues.

According to the Ohio EPA, SOBE Thermal applied for a permit with the agency in September 2022 to allow the installation of a thermolyzer – or pyrolysis – unit to process tire chips. The unit would produce a synthetic gas that would serve as a supplemental fuel in two existing natural gas-fired boilers that are already installed, operating and permitted.

SOBE acquired the operations of the former Youngstown Thermal, a district heating and cooling operation that serves more than 20 clients in the downtown area.

“The permit does meet the applicable Ohio environmental rules and regulations, so Ohio EPA is obligated to issue a permit,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

The Ohio EPA conducted extensive air modeling, and the agency has an air monitor location close to the SOBE facility at Youngstown State University that measures particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and ozone, the Ohio EPA said.

However, SOBE Concerned Citizens said the company has misrepresented its intentions and the Ohio EPA did not evaluate air emissions from process tests. “They evaluated ‘modeling,’ which is, in essence, ‘projections of data,’” the group said in a press release.

The citizens group added that SOBE has said the gas produced wouldn’t be used just as feedstock for steam heat, but also to produce synthetic gas for sale.

The permit application to the Ohio EPA states incorrectly that the synthetic gas produced from pyrolyzing tires in Youngstown will be used only to fire boilers to create steam heat, the group said.

Furthermore, the U.S. EPA has designated Youngstown as an Environmental Justice Community of Concern based on poor health outcomes of minority populations due to decades of pollution, the group said. Referencing a letter from the U.S. EPA to Ohio EPA in September 2023, SOBE Concerned Citizens noted the federal agency cautioned that this permit “may raise civil rights concerns.”

“For these reasons, SOBE Concerned Citizens calls for the Ohio EPA to rescind this permit,” the group said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.