YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a permit for SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC to shred tires that would be converted into gas to provide steam energy to downtown Youngstown over numerous objections from residents and city officials.

The state agency Wednesday issued what it calls an “air permit to install and operate” to SOBE, which applied for it in September 2022.

The EPA stated it will allow SOBE to install a “thermolyzer unit to process tire chips. The unit will 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. The permit does meet the applicable Ohio environmental rules and regulations so Ohio EPA is obligated to issue a permit.”

David Ferro, SOBE’s CEO, couldn’t be reached Wednesday to comment.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, who opposed the permit, said, “We’re very disappointed. I shared that with the director (Anne Vogel). They didn’t take the environmental injustice component and the city’s opposition into consideration.”

Even though the permit was granted, Brown said it’s not over.

“We’ve never been shy about exercising all of our options,” he said. “We will not stop today. We will fight it. We’re not happy about it. There should be other options than just checking the right boxes when it comes to granting permits. The citizens, the administration and council have said, ‘We don’t want it.’ We’ll continue to fight it.'”

City council voted Dec. 20 in support of an ordinance imposing a 12-month moratorium on SOBE’s proposal at its 205 North Ave. plant, which is a short distance from downtown. City officials also repeatedly have said the project needs approval from Youngstown for a zoning change to move forward, and they oppose that.

Said Brown, “I’m not sure about the moratorium. We have to see if it holds up legally. We don’t know.”

The issuance of the permit can be appealed to the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission. Appeals are generally filed within 30 days of the issuance of a final action.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, pointed to a May 12, 2023, letter from Vogel that states “authorization from Ohio EPA for this project would not supersede any safety requirements from other authorities such as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the local fire department, local zoning authority, etc.”

In a Sept. 8 letter to the Ohio EPA, Ray wrote “from the standpoint of environmental justice, it is hard to imagine a more unsuitable location for the installation of a thermolyzer. The regulatory obstacles, coupled with the uncharted health and safety concerns this unproven technology brings, are deeply worrying.”

He said Wednesday the state EPA permit doesn’t supersede local zoning and as a home rule charter city, Youngstown has “a right to enforce our local zoning codes” and the proposed plant is not “in compliance with zoning code.”

Opponents of the project have said the synthetic gas is toxic and a highly explosive hazardous material and that air emissions would threaten public health.

Ferro previously has said the plant would be “very clean with zero hazardous waste and zero hazardous emissions.”

Susie Beiersdorfer, a member of SOBE Concerned Citizens, said of the EPA permit, “I’m very disappointed. They should have taken into account how local residents feel about this. Our state government is so pro-industry. This is how the EPA works. If a company dots its I’s and crosses its T’s, it is going to get a permit. It’s not about the benefit of the community.”

The EPA statement on Wednesday said the agency has an air monitor location at Youngstown State University close to the SOBE facility that measures particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and ozone. The monitor indicates the area meets national air quality standards and once the thermolyzer is operating, computer modeling anticipates air emissions will continue to be met.

The EPA will monitor air quality conditions at the location “and will take immediate action if this source causes any adverse air quality issues,” according to the agency’s statement.

More than 100 people attended an Aug. 10 Ohio EPA hearing in Youngstown with most objecting to the permit being granted to SOBE.

The EPA said in response to comments raised at that hearing, the permit was revised “to improve the monitoring and recordkeeping at the facility. Some of the changes included adding additional emissions testing requirements for particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and dioxins / furans; adding terms to ensure the pilot flame at the flare is maintained at all times to ensure any gasses vented to the flare are property combusted; a leak detection and repair program is being developed to ensure any leaks from valves, pumps, etc. are repaired immediately; and adding terms to ensure the feedstock used in the pyrolysis process meets the definition of tire derived chips.”

It wrote that pollutants such as sulfur, ash and zinc “are expected to be controlled in the gas cleaning system. Sulfur will be controlled using lime. Ash will be controlled using water. Zinc, which has a preference to bond with other constituents to form salts, is expected to be contained in the scrubber water.”

John Mooney, director of the federal EPA’s air and radiation division for the region that includes Ohio, sent a Sept. 11 letter to the state EPA writing the federal agency “determined that the draft permitting action raises potential environmental justice concerns,” and that he urged the state to not grant the permit.

“The introduction of a thermolyzer within a residential and downtown setting stands fundamentally at odds with both the prevailing zoning laws and the principles of environmental justice,” Mooney wrote.

SOBE has more than 40 heating and cooling customers in the downtown area as well as YSU.

Based in Dublin, Ohio, SOBE acquired the former Youngstown Thermal LLC and Youngstown Thermal Cooling LLC in November 2021 for $250,000. The company had managed the facility for about two years prior.

Before taking over, Youngstown Thermal had numerous problems for years operating its cooling system – leaving the handful of downtown businesses that used it without air conditioning during the summer.

Youngstown Thermal was placed into receivership in 2017 after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio was informed by the company’s former CEO that the business had financial struggles that could have caused an energy crisis downtown. Youngstown Thermal couldn’t ensure adequate service to its customers and was in danger of insolvency when the PUCO stepped in.

Youngstown Thermal is the oldest district heating and cooling system in the country, having begun operations in 1895. It was designed to generate and distribute steam to heat downtown businesses using coal as its main source of fuel.