YOUNGSTOWN — Even though SOBE Thermal Energy Solutions LLC is in the hands of a court-appointed receiver and any plans to convert rubber tire chips into synthetic gas at its Youngstown facility are abandoned, city council on Nov. 19 will vote on a third one-year moratorium banning the process.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, who will become council president Jan. 1, said Friday that another moratorium will be on the agenda at the legislative body’s next meeting.

“I don’t foresee any problem with it getting passed,” she said.

The moratorium would ban pyrolysis — the gasification or combustion of tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste — in Youngstown. Council approved the first moratorium Dec. 20, 2023, and the second one Nov. 20, 2024. Both were supported by unanimous votes.

SOBE Concerned Citizens, a local group opposed to SOBE’s pyrolysis plans, issued a statement Friday asking city residents to contact Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and council members to renew the moratorium. Davis said council already plans to act at the Nov. 19 meeting.

SOBE officials walked away from its facility at 205 North St., and its responsibilities providing steam heat, cooling and hot water services to most of downtown Youngstown in late September.

It also abandoned its plans to move ahead with pyrolysis efforts.

But SOBE Concerned Citizens on Oct. 7 urged John Logue, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, to rescind the 10-year permit issued to SOBE on Feb. 14, 2024, to use the method because it is considered an asset of the beleaguered utility company and could be transferred to a new owner should one emerge.

Davis said the moratorium is important because “you never know” what could happen.

After the Ohio EPA granted the permit, the city filed an appeal March 15, 2024.

That pyrolysis plan appears to be dead with SOBE’s former law firm withdrawing from an Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission case, almost certainly because SOBE could no longer pay the legal fees.

SOBE was ordered by the commission to file a notice of a legal counsel by Aug. 20, which it failed to do. A hearing was to start Nov. 17.

The EPA and the city filed a joint motion Oct. 9 for a postponement in the case because of SOBE being controlled by Reg Martin, appointed its receiver by a Sept. 26 court order at the request of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Before Martin was named receiver, SOBE was about to go out of business, leaving 28 downtown buildings without utilities.

The Environmental Review Appeals Commission ruled Oct. 15 that the Nov. 17 hearing is canceled and is seeking a status report on or before Jan. 13, 2026, to determine how the city and EPA want to proceed.

SOBE ISSUES

A rented 800-horsepower steam plant that provided utility services for SOBE customers was repossessed Sept. 30 by court order because SOBE owes $383,214 in back payments to the steam plant’s owner.

Martin said SOBE, which was about to go out of business before he took control, is “insolvent” with no assets besides its building and a few pieces of equipment while owing about $4 million to creditors.

Martin was able to get a smaller 650-horsepower rented steam plant a few days after the old one was repossessed. But it took until Oct. 9 for it to operate, leaving customers without steam heat and hot water for 10 days.

Martin said the rented boiler isn’t a final solution. The boiler from Power Mechanical Inc. of Newport News, Virginia, costs $19,750 a month to rent, Martin said.

Yet there is still no backup boiler for SOBE customers with Martin saying he’s exploring all options.

Martin had contacted Youngstown State University the day before the old plant was repossessed to see if SOBE could use the school’s boiler system through an old piping system. That effort failed Oct. 1 because leaks were found in the system, which hadn’t been used in more than nine years.

Martin said at an Oct. 22 meeting that the main problem could be fixed for about $25,000 because a contractor caused damage to the pipe at the Rayen Avenue and Elm Street intersection. The work was supposed to begin the following week and take about three days to finish, Martin said.

There could be other smaller leaks on the line with Martin estimated the cost of repairs at $5,000.

But John P. Hyden, YSU’s associate vice president for facility and support services, told The Vindicator on Oct. 28 that “there’s too many impediments because of the condition we find their lines in. It’s impossible to back-feed their system. The line is leaking so badly. Also, we can only run two boilers at a time and we’re going to use two in the winter. We don’t have the capacity to do it in the winter. It’s not going to happen.”

Martin said a backup system for SOBE’s customers is needed and had previously talked about renting a 250-horsepower boiler, for about $12,500 a month, to be used with the existing boiler.

The repossessed boiler was 800 horsepower. To rent one of that size would cost about $27,000 a month, Martin said, which would be financially challenging for a company with such limited financial resources.

Also, Brown, whose term as mayor ends Dec. 31, and state Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, asked Gov. Mike DeWine for emergency relief and / or financial assistance, writing they had no faith that Martin could provide utility services to downtown customers.

Dan Tierney, DeWine’s spokesman, said Oct. 28 that the governor doesn’t have authority to make an emergency declaration or to provide state funding to run SOBE and the receiver “is the mechanism that is in place” for these issues.

Martin pleaded with city officials at the Oct. 22 meeting to assist him by allowing him to again use a chilling system on the roof of the city-owned 20 Federal Place for the attached Wick Towers, saving SOBE $14,000 a month, and assistance with utility work.

In rejecting the requests, Brown said the city is a customer and not Martin’s partner.