Youngstown Residents Stand Against Pyrolysis Plant: A Community’s Fight for Environmental Justice

In November 2021, a two-sentence article in our local newspaper revealed that a consulting company, SOBE Energy Solutions LLC of Dublin, Ohio (SOBE), would be coming to town to burn tires and recycled plastics to create energy for steam heating downtown buildings. Soon after, Youngstown residents came together as SOBE Concerned Citizens (SCC) and exclaimed, “SOBE-NO WAY!”

SOBE Concerned Citizens (SCC) was formed in July 2022 by Youngstown residents to protect the public health and safety of those living in the Mahoning Valley. The goal of SCC is to prevent the construction of a waste-to-energy pyrolysis plant in Youngstown. Residents were alarmed to hear of a proposal to add a pyrolysis plant to the district steam heating and cooling public utility, which has been operating for many decades but was recently purchased by a non-local private business. The proposed pyrolysis plant is an untested, potentially dangerous, and polluting for-profit industrial operation that residents do not want in our community. SCC quickly united to work together to prevent it from being located next to our revitalized downtown.

The Emergence of SOBE Energy Solutions in Youngstown

This site was formerly Youngstown Thermal, LLC, a coal-fired steam heating and cooling company located in downtown Youngstown since 1895. It went out of business in 2017, shortly after their main customer, Youngstown State University (YSU), built a boiler plant and canceled their contract. Residents of Youngstown were very pleased that there was no longer a yellow haze hanging over the city, and that they did not see billowing smoke from the coal-fired boilers any longer. SOBE applied to purchase the plant at 205 North Avenue as a steam heating and cooling business. Since there are old buildings downtown relying on steam radiator heat, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) agreed that SOBE could operate the plant while it was in financial receivership. On October 17, 2021, PUCO staff reviewed and found that SOBE was capable of providing service after having made several capital investments to improve system efficiencies, and that they were financially healthy enough to maintain service.

At this time, the old Steam Heat plant is partly demolished and the construction of the SOBE plant has not begun. Photo credit: Diana Ludwig

SOBE is currently burning natural gas to fire this boiler which provides steam heat to downtown buildings. Photo credit: Lynn Anderson

Community Action and Advocacy

SCC were skeptical whether SOBE’s permit application had been thoroughly reviewed by PUCO’s new chair, Jenifer French, as the application was incomplete with all air emission questions filled in as “N/A”. It is important to note that a huge upheaval occurred at PUCO beginning in July 2021 when Sam Randazzo, then Chair of PUCO, was removed for being involved in the First Energy nuclear bailout scandal. Still, the new Chair, Jenifer French, granted them a permit to purchase the plant as a steam heating/cooling public utility for $250,000 on November 17, 2021. SOBE’s steam heating operation was “grandfathered in,” since a zoning change from Industrial to Mixed-Use Community in the area just west of downtown had been implemented in 2013.

After reading about SOBE in the November 2021 article, a Youngstown resident attended the November 22, 2021 Public Utilities Committee of the Youngstown City Council meeting and asked if the council had read the article stating that SOBE planned to melt plastics and tires in Youngstown. They had not. They were then asked what would be done to protect the city from the toxic air pollution including dioxins since the air pollution division of the Youngstown Health Department had been shut down in 2017. Chairman Mike Ray stated that there was nothing that Youngstown could do as the state regulates air pollution.

Eight months later, July 21, 2022, the Public Utilities Committee of the Youngstown City Council held a public meeting where David Ferro, the CEO of SOBE Energy Solutions, presented his business plan. He showed a PowerPoint marketing presentation and expounded on how SOBE’s new “Thermolyzer” technology would help solve the plastics recycling problem in the U.S. Ferro emphasized that they would “never go out of business like Youngstown Thermal” because they would be producing profit-making products: synthetic gas, more plastic, and carbon black for sale. He added that they would produce some electricity for sale to a contractor who would set up on site and mine cryptocurrency. Youngstown residents questioned him extensively and asked for process testing data that would show what type of air emissions would come from the “Thermolyzer.”

There has been no data provided to the public. TRC companies provided proprietary “modeling” to the OH EPA since this technology has never been used at an industrial scale and is still in testing. Youngstown citizens asked for another public meeting to get more information. Chairman Mike Ray, a part-time employee of TRC companies, said that they would get this out to the public “as needed.”

Mobilizing Against SOBE’s Thermolyzer

Since no information was forthcoming and people could see that SOBE was demolishing Youngstown Thermal in preparation for constructing their plant, we took action. On August 11, 2022, we had a public meeting to educate the community about the threat of a pyrolysis plant coming to our city and to organize a Town Hall-style meeting. For this upcoming Town Hall, we would invite the CEO of SOBE to present his data as well as our Mayor and City Council members so that the public could be heard.

On September 16, 2022, OH EPA granted a permit for SOBE to operate a natural gas-fired boiler at the site. Third ward council person, Samantha Turner informed Lynn Anderson that she would have a representative from OH EPA speak at her neighborhood meeting on September 19, 2022. Lynn was glad that SCC would be able to question OH EPA about SOBE. However, Samantha said that they would only be explaining the purpose and history of OH EPA, and that SOBE would not be the subject of the meeting.

But as soon as the PR rep from OH EPA finished speaking, the President of the “Love Your Neighbor” Block Watch, Daryl Harvey, spoke up and said that he lives one block from this proposed plastics and tires pyrolysis plant and needs to know what toxic air emissions would result. He elaborated that he grew tomatoes in his garden and did not want to get cancer. The PR rep of the OH EPA said she didn’t know but would provide a list of phone numbers for all the OH EPA departments to the council person.

SCC sent a public records request on October 3, 2022, for all correspondence between the OH EPA and SOBE, along with their affiliated companies CHZ, Optics Consulting, and Pennoni. We received these records, including internal emails, and the facts gleaned from them continue to inform our campaign.

On October 12, 2022, SCC held a Town Hall-style meeting at The Unitarian Universalist Church in Youngstown (UUYO). Our Mayor had a death in the family and was unable to be there, but 4 out of 7 city council members, and over 75 people attended. Participants listened to both David Ferro, CEO of SOBE (in person) and Teresa Mills, then Executive Director of Buckeye Environmental Network (via Zoom). Ferro went on and on about the benefits of this “new”, “green” technology and how it would solve the plastics recycling problem in the U.S. Teresa Mills then debunked Ferro’s explanations and presented research about this “not new”, “not green”, toxic technology. Participants asked Ferro many questions and many focused on the lack of transparency about the negative environmental impacts to our city and residents. SCC provided much-needed information on the petrochemical industries’ promotion of “advanced” recycling. The meeting was covered by local TV stations, WKBN and WFMJ. SOBE Concerned Citizens displayed the 21-page Interim Environmental Justice report from the US EPA. [1]

From left to right: Tom Hetrick, Valeria Goncalves and Daryl Harvey stand in front of posters of the US EPA interim policy that we are urging them to codify into law.

On November 7, 2022, we received public records requested from OH EPA which caused even more concern. They were treating the non-operating, experimental “Thermolyzer” as a safe solution, although there still was no process-test data, only the aforementioned modeling done for SOBE by a contractor, TRC companies. In the October Town Hall Meeting, Mike Ray was asked whether it is a conflict of interest since he is an employee of TRC Companies while serving as the Chair of the Public Utilities Committee of the Youngstown City Council. He said the division he worked for did not do the modeling for SOBE, it was the Connecticut TRC Companies division, so therefore no conflict of interest.

In January 2023, with the help and encouragement of Teresa Mills, SCC received a grant from the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation which helped pay for a billboard, yard signs, a “We Are Not Guinea Pigs!” direct mail campaign in Youngstown and Lowellville, materials for public town hall meetings, and our website.

At a January 9, 2023, SCC Hands-On Public Meeting at the Covelli Center where over 100 residents attended, we explained the US EPA’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Communities of Concern designation which includes Youngstown and gave instructions on how to use the EJ screen from the US EPA: https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen. We showed and helped residents send in complaints to PUCO, who granted SOBE the right to purchase Youngstown Thermal as a utility to deliver steam heating to downtown Youngstown, NOT to incorporate “advanced recycling” of plastics and tires that his business plan included. We also presented the new SCC billboard, “We Have Enough Toxic Air Pollution–Stop SOBE” that would be located at Belmont Avenue and Burlington Street, a high traffic area on Youngstown’s north side. On January 24, 2023, SCC held a Billboard unveiling press conference under the billboard.

Photo Credit: WFMJ News, Youngstown

On February 7, 2023, seven members of SCC met with Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, discussed their concerns, and urged him to speak to OH EPA officials in Columbus and tell them Youngstown citizens do not want this pyrolysis plant. SCC unveiled their website www.stop-sobe.com at a February 17, 2023, Public Town Hall meeting at UUYO. We passed out 50 STOP SOBE yard signs and presented a summary of the February 7th meeting with the mayor. Silverio Caggiano, former YFD battalion chief and HazMat expert, spoke on the chemicals released at the East Palestine train derailment and the similar chemical releases that could occur at a pyrolysis plant such as SOBE.

SCC’s Response to SOBE’s Revised Business Plan

SOBE CEO Dave Ferro spoke at the Friends of the Mahoning River group’s meeting on February 20, 2023. He revealed his revised business plan: instead of just warehousing recycled plastics and tires and chopping up tires in Lowellville, they would now also “superheat” computer waste and recycled plastic there to make synthetic gas for sale. SOBE would ship the tire-derived chips (TDC) to Youngstown, then “superheat” this feedstock to produce synthetic gas for sale. It is important to note that in permit applications to OH EPA and in response to reporters’ questions, SOBE’s CEO states that he is making synthetic gas only to fire boilers to make steam.

On March 23, 2023, the Youngstown City Council Climate Change, Environment and Sustainable Technology Committee invited Buckeye Environmental Network member Silverio Caggiano to speak at their first meeting. He explained that air emissions, which could be released from SOBE’s process, would be very dangerous and so no industrial zoning variance should be granted to them.

When the Dorothy Day House hosted an SCC Public Town Hall Meeting on March 30, 2023, we updated the public on SOBE’s changed business plan to gasify computer waste and plastic in Lowellville, and tires in Youngstown. The President of Youngstown City Council, Tom Hetrick presented a zoning opinion written by city planner Jack Daugherty, stating that the Mixed-Use Community Zoning designation prohibits industrial use where SOBE is located. SCC formatted the statement into a petition and canvassed the community from April 1st through May 2nd, obtaining 553 signatures of Youngstown residents who did not want an industrial variance to be granted for this proposed pyrolysis plant. By the end of May over 700 signatures had been gathered.

SCC tabled at Earth Day at YSU and May Day at the Calvin center where we provided cell phones to attendees to call the OH EPA and the US EPA to emphasize that they should not give permits to these “advanced recycling” businesses, and that this was not a “new technology” process, but were in fact, pyrolysis plants.

Power to the People

On May 9, 2023, eight members of SCC from the neighborhood nearest SOBE Thermal met with Mayor Brown, presented the zoning petition and urged the mayor to represent Youngstown residents and protect public health. In a news interview that evening, a quote from Mayor Brown ended with: “…I will listen to the citizens.”

We held a press conference on May 18 across from the SOBE site. SCC continued to publicly call for the Mayor to inform David Ferro that he could not expand into pyrolysis in Youngstown. We exposed the deceptive greenwashing method of propaganda that the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a petrochemical-industry-funded group, uses to spread the notion that “advanced recycling” and “chemical recycling” are solutions to the problem of plastics recycling. ACC lobbyists push these processes as “green energy job creators” in order to get funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), American Rescue Plan (ARP), Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and other government agencies dedicated to financing the creation of “green energy” jobs.

On July 6, 2023, the OH EPA issued a draft air pollution permit to SOBE for their “Thermolyzers.” They set a public comment period for 30 days, which SCC got extended to Sept. 10, 2023. SCC implemented a postcard writing campaign and sent in hundreds of comments opposing this draft permit. OH EPA held a public comment meeting at the Eugenia Atkinson Center in Youngstown on August 10th and many SCC members spoke in opposition to the draft permit. Leatra Harper of Freshwater Accountability helped SCC contact the Environmental Integrity Project who then facilitated getting the Center For Applied Environmental Science (CAES) to hire a permit engineer to help us. Kathy Martin, P.E. wrote a 90-page analysis of the errors and problematic calculations published in the draft permit, which is on our website under Sustainable Youngstown’s public comment. SCC was pleased that John Mooney, Director of Air Pollution and Radiation, Region 5 US EPA wrote a public comment that counseled the OH EPA to include Environmental Justice considerations in their final permit. But when OH EPA issued the final air pollution permit to SOBE, on February 14, 2024, they did not include EJ provisions.

We work closely with our pro bono legal team, the Kramer Environmental Law Clinic of the Case Western Reserve Law School. They did a legal analysis of Youngstown’s Redevelopment Code and determined the zoning laws were enough to prevent this new industrial pyrolysis proposal. They wrote the wording for the resolution that the Youngstown City Council Climate Committee proposed and the whole council passed on September 21, 2023.

SCC was also successful in encouraging Youngstown City Council to pass a 12-month moratorium ordinance prohibiting pyrolysis and gasification in our city on Dec. 20, 2023. We worked with the Kramer attorneys who wrote this ordinance and its passage was a direct result of our members and allies working to educate council persons about the dangers of this “advanced recycling” operation. Mayor Brown signed the ordinance into law on December 26, 2023. We continue to work with our pro-bono legal team and city officials to support the moratorium and ensure a yearly renewal.

SCC group attended City Council Meeting when they unanimously passed the Moratorium Ordinance.

SOBE Concerned Citizen’s Continued Advocacy

On February 14, 2024, the OH EPA issued a final air pollution permit to SOBE. SCC responded with press releases reiterating that Anne Vogel, the Director of the OH EPA stated in an interview with WFMJ on May 18, 2023, that OH EPA permits do not supersede local zoning regulations. We hold her to her word. SCC press releases repeated the fact that the Youngstown zoning law is in place as well as the one-year moratorium on gasification or pyrolysis. SCC spoke at a public meeting at the Dorothy Day Justice Roundtable on March 21, 2024, to remind the public that the zoning law and one year moratorium ordinance remain in place.

SCC continues to engage and educate people on pyrolysis issues and the many iterations of “advanced recycling”. We work to make community connections to ensure protection of public health and our environment in the Mahoning Valley. While the fight to ban pyrolysis in Youngstown is not over, the lessons SCC has learned over the last two years will be instructive to other groups fighting against pyrolysis projects in Lowellville and other Ohio communities.

The Power of Community Action in Environmental Justice

The story of SCC and the fight against the pyrolysis plant in Youngstown is a testament to the power of community action in achieving environmental justice, serving as a reminder that grassroots movements can enact real change and protect communities from environmental harm.

SCC continues to engage and educate people on pyrolysis issues and the many iterations of “advanced recycling,” working to make community connections to ensure protection of public health and the environment in the Mahoning Valley. While the fight to ban pyrolysis in Youngstown is not over, the lessons SCC has learned over the last two years will be instructive to other groups fighting against pyrolysis projects in Lowellville and other Ohio communities.