By DAVID SKOLNICK

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — The board of control agreed to pay $60,000 to an “expert witness” in Youngstown’s ongoing effort to stop SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC’s proposal to convert rubber tire chips into synthetic gas at its facility near downtown.

The board hired Ranajit (Ron) Sahu of Alhambra, California, in a 3-0 vote Thursday to provide testimony in front of the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission in a case filed against SOBE and Anne Vogel, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director.

The Ohio EPA issued a permit to SOBE on Feb. 14, 2024, to SOBE to move ahead with its plans to use pyrolysis, which is the gasification or combustion of tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste into synthetic gas at its 205 North Ave. plant, a short distance from downtown. A draft permit was issued July 6, 2023.

The city objects to the permit and filed an appeal March 15, 2024, stating Vogel’s decision to issue a final permit “is unreasonable and lacking a valid factual foundation, and / or unlawful and not in accordance with state law.” The city asked the commission to order Vogel to revoke SOBE’s permit.

The hearing is scheduled to begin Sept. 22. Michael Verich of Trumbull County, a former state representative, is vice chairman of the three-member commission.

Sahu has served as an “expert witness” in hundreds of cases during his 33-year career on environmental, chemical, engineering and energy matters. His clients include trade organizations; companies such as steel mills, petroleum refineries, chemical plants, cement manufacturers, aerospace companies, power generation facilities; as well as the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice. Sahu also represented numerous states and cities and has been an expert witness for the Sierra Club on a number of occasions.

David Ferro, SOBE’s CEO, has said the company plans to use only shredded tires, and it would be “very clean with zero hazardous waste and zero hazardous emissions.”

The gas would be used for steam energy for downtown businesses as well as sold to companies for other purposes.

The Ohio EPA issued an “air permit to install and operate” to SOBE to shred tires that would be converted into gas at its Youngstown plant over numerous objections from city officials and residents.

Youngstown City Council on Nov. 20 approved a second one-year moratorium on the process SOBE plans to use at its plant, near downtown. Council members say the process is dangerous, untested and harmful to the environment. They also said they don’t plan to ever lift the moratorium that was initially passed Dec. 20, 2023.

City officials repeatedly have said the project needs approval from Youngstown for a zoning change to move forward, and they oppose that.

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. Nearly 100 people attended an Aug. 10, 2023, public hearing to express opposition to the EPA granting the permit to SOBE.

The EPA stated Feb. 14, 2024, that it would 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-fire boilers that are already installed, operated and permitted. The permit does meet the applicable Ohio environmental rules and regulations so Ohio EPA is obligated to issue a permit.”

John Mooney, director of the federal EPA’s air and radiation division for the region that includes Ohio, sent a Sept. 11, 2023, 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.

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.

OTHER ACTION

The board of control on Thursday also approved a $674,378 contract for R.T. Vernal Paving & Excavating of North Lima for an improvement project to Redondo Road from Fifth to Belmont avenues.

The project includes storm sewers, catch basins and drainage work as well as a partial road repaving, new curbs and handicapped ramps.

The work should start shortly and take about four months to finish.

The board agreed to pay $100,827 to A.P. O’Horo Co. of Liberty for emergency repairs made to a 24-inch water main on West Newport Drive in Mill Creek Park.

The break occurred Dec. 21 on the concrete mainline.

Also, the board hired Kwai Daniels for $11,104 “for visual media to promote the city of Youngstown and provide public relations content on city matters,” according to the agenda items.

Daniels said last month that he would coordinate a television show – likely on a cable television access channel – to highlight the positives in the city, such as people with talent and local businesses.

He said he would also create a website and use the city’s social media platforms to promote the show and the city as well as work with students at the Choffin Career and Technical Center.