⏸️Pressing Pause on a Polluting Proposed Pyrolysis Plant in Youngstown, Ohio☠️

Written By Eve Fox

After years of committed grassroots opposition to a proposed SOBE Energy Solutions plant, the community of Youngstown, Ohio recently succeeded in convincing the Youngstown City Council to pass a 12-month moratorium on pyrolysis of tires, tire derived chips, plastic and electronic waste.👏 It’s been a long fight and although it’s not necessarily over yet, the moratorium represents a major milestone in the effort to stop this polluting facility from being built. Read on to learn how they accomplished this achievement. 

Initially, SOBE was slated to be a steam power plant, but on July 21, 2022, SOBE’s CEO revealed that the company would superheat chopped up tires and recycled plastics to create new plastic, synthetic gas (syngas), and carbon black for sale, and from the heating process create steam heat for downtown. The company would also produce electricity to sell to a sub-contractor who would locate on site and mine cryptocurrency. SOBE Concerned Citizens (SCC) was formed shortly after this announcement. SCC is a local group of volunteers who have united Youngstown, Ohio residents in opposition to a pyrolysis facility by organizing meetings, providing research and educational materials and hosting informational town halls. 

SOBE Energy Solutions, a consulting company of Dublin, Ohio is in the middle of demolishing the old coal-fired Youngstown Thermal, LLC steam heat providing plant. Inside the truck trailer is a natural-gas fired boiler producing steam for downtown Youngstown buildings. Residents say, if you are taking over as a steam heat provider, do only that.

At a public meeting on October 12, 2022, SOBE added electronic waste to the feedstock to create products for sale. SOBE's plan would generate toxic air pollution right in the heart of downtown Youngstown, Ohio, an important urban environmental justice community. SCC brought to light the hundreds of published peer-reviewed scientific papers detailing the carcinogenic toxins that pyrolysis releases into the air, including dioxins, furans, mercury, cadmium, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene. These substances and chemicals are known endocrine disruptors, cancer-causing, or heart and lung damaging and contain volatile organic compounds and particulate matter. 

SCC started attending meetings of the Public Utilities Committee of the Youngstown City Council in November 2021, and continued in July and November of 2022. They organized an October 12, 2022 public meeting where 75 residents listened and questioned some city council members, the SOBE CEO and environmental organizations about the pyrolysis process. At that time, attendees were encouraged to take yard signs that said “Stop SOBE.” 

In January 2023, SCC placed a billboard on Belmont Ave in Youngstown to help raise the public’s awareness of the concerns about the pyrolysis plant’s negative health and environmental impacts. SCC and other supportive groups wrote letters to Youngstown's mayor voicing opposition to the plant that were signed by many residents.

A larger public meeting was held January 9, 2023 at the Covelli Center, resulting in a scheduled meeting with Mayor Brown for February 7, 2023. Another public meeting was held February 17, 2023 after the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment showed similar types of chemicals anticipated to be released from SOBE pyrolysis emissions were the same kinds of emissions from the controlled burn of vinyl chloride.

SCC continued to regularly speak at city council meetings, meet with neighborhood groups, and held a phone call campaign to the Ohio EPA. On March 30, 2023, a Town Hall meeting was held at the Dorothy Day house in Youngstown where the President of City Council, Tom Hetrick presented the zoning opinion petition and SCC organized to get signatures. Exactly 553 residents signed the petition and presented it to Mayor Brown on May 9, 2023. In a news interview that evening, a quote from Mayor Brown ended with: "...I will listen to the citizens."

Beyond Plastics’ Jess Conard speaking at the City Council meeting in Youngstown, Ohio.

On May 18, 2023, SCC held a press conference at which City Council President Hetrick read the response they’d received from the Ohio EPA which said that industry cannot be placed in a location if a locality determines that it is not zoned for industry. 

​The Ohio EPA held a public hearing on August 10, 2023 where hundreds of residents showed up and dozens of residents spoke out in opposition to the proposed pyrolysis plant, including our very own Jess Conard, Appalachia Director for Beyond Plastics. As a resident of East Palestine who lives only 20 minutes from the proposed site and had already lived through one toxic chemical disaster, Jess was motivated to get involved to help her neighbors oppose this facility.

At that hearing, Jess met Diana Ludwig followed shortly after by Lynn Anderson and Susie Beirsdorfer, who are key local leaders in SOBE Concerned Citizens. Later in August, the group held a public comments postcard “party” which generated hundreds of public comments from residents urging the Ohio EPA to oppose SOBE.

In the following weeks, locals began writing letters to the editor, hosting more rallies, and finally gained the trust of a Youngstown City Councilperson who led the climate committee. The Councilperson championed a resolution to oppose SOBE. SCC continued to gather, go door to door, and post flyers to urge residents to attend and speak at the City Council meetings. In September 2023, the Youngstown City Council unanimously passed the resolution to oppose pyrolysis in Youngstown, Ohio. While this resolution was a show of the Council’s support, the resolution does not provide the legal authority to stop SOBE. 

SCC continued to seek a solution. The group sought legal advice and received guidance and support from environmental groups like Beyond Plastics, Clean Air Council, Beyond Petrochemicals, and the Buckeye Environmental Network to draft a moratorium on pyrolysis in the city. 

SCC then worked with the supportive City Council to introduce the moratorium in the form of an emergency ordinance. On December 20, 2023, the Youngstown City Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance that would prevent the pyrolysis of tires, tire chips, plastics, and electronic waste from being constructed or operated within Youngstown. 

While the fight to oppose SOBE pyrolysis continues, we remain encouraged by the Youngstown, Ohio community, who has remained steadfast and committed to providing their residents with a safer, more sustainable future. If you live in Ohio and would like to get involved, please contact Jess Conard jessconard@bennington.edu or check out https://www.stop-sobe.com to learn more.

Advocates celebrate the City Council’s vote on December 20, 2023.

Eve Fox
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