Public Ohio EPA Hearing Aug 10 2023 re: SOBE tire pyrolyzing in Youngstown

 

We invite you to join us at Ohio EPA PUBLIC MEETING Thurs., August 10, 6:00 pm

Eugenia Atkinson Recreation Center
903 Otis Street, Youngstown, OH 44510

regarding the DRAFT PERMIT proposing to allow SOBE to PYROLYZE TIRES RIGHT NEXT TO OUR REVITALIZED DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN.
USE THIS PUBLIC MEETING TO VOICE YOUR CONCERNS to the OHIO EPA - TELL THEM you oppose granting the permit!

Make sure to tell all of your family, friends and neighbors to submit their concerns via email or mail (postmarked by Aug. 24, 2023!)(addresses below)
Email or Mail Comments & Questions to Ohio EPA:
 
DAPCNE.comments@epa.ohio.gov [Erik Bewley]

Write the Ohio EPA: "Do NOT issue permit to SOBE!"

Andrew Hall
Permit Review/Development Section
Ohio EPA, DAPC
50 West Town Street Suite 700
PO Box 1049   
Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049
     and
Ohio EPA DAPC, Northeast District Office
2110 East Aurora Rd.
Twinsburg, OH 44087

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Hello friends,

We are reaching out as we try to connect the folks and organizations working and/or concerned about stopping SOBE’s pyrolysis plant next to revitalized downtown Youngstown. 

You may have seen some of this information but we are compiling it in one place for easier share-ability. 

Hope you can attend the meeting and can help to get the word out.

PLEASE, if you know of others who could weigh in on this DRAFT permit, forward this blog post to them.

 

Materials to Share:

DRAFT permit from OH EPA for the SOBE plant https://bit.ly/OEPAdraft

For more information about SOBE, citizen’s actions and other info, visit us at:

Sobe Concerned Citizens of Youngstown https://www.stop-sobe.com/   facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SustainableYoungstown

Submit public Comment to OH EPA using a form: https://youngstownneighbor.wixsite.com/sobepubliccomment

Submit public Comment to PUCO (Public Utilities Commission) using their form - explained here:  https://bit.ly/commentPUCOreSOBE

Zoning Petition urging NO industrial variance be granted to this pyrolysis plant: https://bit.ly/zoningpetitionSOBE  pdf

Frequently asked questions about the SOBE proposed site via OH EPA: https://bit.ly/phase1FAQ-OHEPA  pdf

COMING UP:

Thursday Aug 17, 6 pm - 8 pm, SOBE Concerned Citizens are having a “Public Comment Party” to generate public comments to send to the OH EPA. Lite refreshments served.
Dorothy Day House

620 Belmont Ave, Youngstown, OH 44502

 

SOBE Concerned Citizens & Dorothy Day Public Townhall on proposed incinerator in heart of downtown Youngstown, Ohio

SOBE Concerned Citizens & Dorothy Day will hold Public Townhall on the proposed SOBE incinerator in the heart of downtown Youngstown.
WHEN: Thursday, March 30, 2023 6:00pm – 7:30pm
WHERE: Dorothy Day House - Youngstown, 620 Belmont Ave, Youngstown, OH 44502

Guest speaker Sil Caggiano, a HazMat expert, will discuss the Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio and similar possible air emissions from the SOBE incinerator project, including the similarity of the toxic chemicals released at the East Palestine controlled burn after the train derailment.

Presentation of the US EPA EJ[Environmental Justice] Screen and tutorial on how to use it.

Refreshments will be served

MORE INFO:  330-333-1264

6 PM March 30, 2023
SOBE Concerned Citizens & Dorothy Day Public Townhall on proposed SOBE incinerator in heart of downtown Youngstown, Ohio

For More Info: https://www.stop-sobe.com/
and

http://www.protectyoungstown.org/

 

FOLLOW Sustainable #Youngstown on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SustainableYoungstown/

 

“SOBE NO WAY!”

Billboard unveiling at Belmont and Burlington, Youngstown, Ohio!

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SOBE Concerned Citizens Public Town Hall Meeting
“Preventing Toxic Air Pollution In Youngstown and Lowellville, Ohio
Thursday March 30, 2023
6:00 p.m.– 7:30 p.m.
The Dorothy Day House, 620 Belmont Ave., Youngstown, OH 44502
Free to public, pizza and refreshments served

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 27, 2023

Contact:

Lynn Anderson:  Sustainable Youngstown  sustainableyoungstown@gmail.com 330-333-1264

Susie Beiersdorfer, OHCRN, yogayoungstown@gmail.com  330-881-1050

YOUNGSTOWN- On Thursday, March 30 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. concerned citizens will gather to discuss information gathered and actions being taken by the community to stop a facility that will superheat tires to create fossil fuel synthetic gas to sell and to burn for producing steam heat, next to downtown Youngstown. Sil Caggiano, retired Youngstown Fire Dept. battalion chief and HazMat expert, will speak about the toxic chemicals released from the East Palestine train derailment controlled burn and similarities to a pyrolysis plant accident that would release the same type of toxic air emissions. See website: www.stop-sobe.com

The CEO of SOBE Energy Solutions announced publicly on February 20 he will build another plant to superheat computer waste and recycled plastics in Lowellville. Previously the business plan he presented to the public detailed that warehouses for chopping up tires and plastics would be located there and pyrolysis would happen in Youngstown. SOBE Energy Solutions is located in Dublin, Ohio but seeks to operate here. The US EPA classifies Youngstown as an Environmental Justice community. Congress has warned that polluting pyrolysis plants are targeting “disadvantaged communities” across the U.S.
 

In November of 2021, PUCO granted a permit to purchase the defunct Youngstown Thermal, LLC that provided steam heat to downtown buildings to SOBE Energy Solutions of Dublin, Ohio. It has come to light that SOBE misrepresented their business plan, submitting their application as SOBE Thermal, a heating and cooling company.  The CEO, David Ferro, has said in two public meetings before Youngstown citizens that his business will make money by super-heating chopped up tires, recycled plastics and computer waste to produce synthetic gas (syngas), new plastic, and carbon black for sale, plus sell electricity to a subcontractor to mine cryptocurrency.  He said they would also provide steam heat to Youngstown buildings. Residents questioned the SOBE CEO due to concerns that their permit from PUCO is only for a steam heating/cooling plant, not an industrial plant producing these products for profit. 

SOBE Concerned Citizens is informing and uniting Youngtown residents in protecting our community from toxic air pollution. We are demanding that this business produce steam heat only as they applied to do with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). We are telling the US EPA to codify into law "Interim Environmental Justice and Civil Rights in Permitting” policy and take immediate action to stop granting permits to these type of “advanced recycling” businesses. We stand with the 48 Congress people and Senators who wrote to the US EPA: ”As our transportation, energy, and industrial sectors transition to clean energy, the oil and gas industry is doubling down on petrochemicals and plastics, with plans to substantially expand production in the United States. These new facilities will release toxic pollutants that will disproportionately impact the communities living in and around the facility and produce additional greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.”

February 9, 2023 Letter to US EPA from Congress and Senate:

https://www.booker.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_epa_on_plastic_crisis_actions1.pdf

SOBE Concerned Citizens and Sustainable Youngstown’s phone number: 330-333-1264
Sustainable Youngstown’s FaceBook page: www.facebook.com/sustainableyoungstown

Website: www.stop-sobe.com

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