The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has adopted dual strategies to shut down the frequent environmental violator.
Erie Coke Corp. will wage its battle to stay open on two fronts this week.
On Tuesday, a judge in Erie County Court will consider the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s request to shutter the coke plant, which sits at the foot of East Avenue.
On Wednesday, a judge on the state’s Environmental Hearing Board will weigh whether to let Erie Coke stay open as it appeals the DEP’s denial of the plant’s operating permit.
The two distinct legal proceedings stem from the DEP’s use of dual strategies to pursue Erie Coke’s closure.
The DEP announced on July 1 that it would not renew Erie Coke’s Title V operating permit, which the company needs to continue operating the plant. Separately, the DEP petitioned for an injunction to shut down the plant in Erie County Court.
The denial of Erie Coke’s operating permit spurred the company’s appeal to the Environmental Hearing Board. Erie Coke has asked Environmental Hearing Board Judge Steven C. Beckman to supersede the DEP’s action and grant a stay that would allow the plant to keep running while its appeal is pending.
Beckman scheduled a hearing on the issue for Wednesday at 1 p.m. But the DEP is asking the judge to cancel the hearing and deny Erie Coke’s request because the company would continue polluting if allowed to remain open.
“Throughout its petition Erie Coke praises itself for beginning to come into compliance as of April 2019,” the DEP’s lawyers wrote in their response. “However, Erie Coke freely admits that it has not achieved compliance nor will it in the near future.”
The DEP claimed Erie Coke would continue emitting pollutants in violation of environmental laws if the Environmental Hearing Board allowed the plant to stay open during the appeal.
The DEP claimed Erie Coke would continue emitting pollutants in violation of environmental laws if the Environmental Hearing Board allowed the plant to stay open during the appeal.
Erie Coke will have a chance to respond to the DEP’s claims before Beckman rules on whether to cancel Wednesday’s hearing and deny the stay.
The company has argued that shutting down the plant would destroy its batteries of coke ovens, which are maintained at 2,000 degrees, and put the company permanently out of business.
“A coke facility that is allowed to cool loses structural integrity — essentially crumbling — and it cannot thereafter be successfully restarted and operated,” wrote Erie Coke’s lawyer, Paul Stockman, of Pittsburgh. The plant produces coke, a coal derivative that is used to make steel.
Still unclear is how Erie Coke plans to combat the DEP’s request for an injunction in Erie County Court. A hearing on the injunction is set for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. before Judge Daniel Brabender.
As of Monday afternoon, Erie Coke had not filed any response to the DEP’s petition for an injunction that would order the plant to shut down.
The petition points to ongoing environmental violations at the plant, including visible emissions (opaque particulate matter) that exceeded allowable percentages, emissions of “unburned, untreated coke oven gas” and other issues.
Erie Coke Environmental Director Ed Nesselbeck told the Erie Times-News previously that the company is working to address the problems causing compliance issues, but that it needs time to do so effectively.
The DEP also tried to shut down Erie Coke over environmental violations in 2010. The company avoided closure when it reached a settlement to pay a $6 million fine and make $15 million in improvements at the plant.
The DEP has said that violations at the plant began again after the consent decree elapsed in 2015 and that the violations have continued despite repeated warnings over the past two years.
