News

PA DEP has moved to shut down Erie Coke, bringing the fight for Erie’s equitable future into focus The writer Terry Tempest Williams became the matriarch of her family at age 34. Her mother, grandmothers, and aunts had died from breast cancer. “Most statistics tell us breast cancer is genetic, hereditary, with rising percentages attached to fatty diets, childlessness, or becoming pregnant after thirty,” Williams writes in her landmark book, Refuge. “What they don’t say is living in Utah may be the greatest hazard of all.” Williams and her family had the misfortune of being “downwinders” whose environment was ineluctably... Read More

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection filed an injunction in Erie County Court to close 125-employee plant. For years, Erie Coke Corp. has rebuffed environmental regulators’ efforts to bring the troubled plant at the foot of East Avenue into compliance with state and federal law. The coke plant and the emissions floating from its eye-catching smokestack on Erie’s bayfront have become the focus of local activists’ push for greater enforcement of environmental rules. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection decided Erie Coke has had enough chances to change. In a move that is rare — but not unprecedented in... Read More

Erie, PA – Hold Erie Coke Accountable (HECA) supports the PA DEP’s decision to end ongoing pollution from Erie Coke, and commends our DEP for the hard work that led to this action. This was the necessary and proper proceeding given the unwillingness of Erie Coke to come into basic compliance. It is disappointing that Erie Coke has so little regard for its employees’ stability, our environment, and the vibrant economic future of Erie. Recent DEP records show that Erie Coke continues to fail to address egregious pollution violations, attempted to change the parameters of their federal Title V Operating... Read More

Erie, PA – The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today denied Erie Coke’s application to renew its Title V operating permit and has filed a complaint for injunctive relief in Erie County Court seeking to shut down the coke production facility following years of numerous repetitive environmental violations. “For more than a decade, DEP has received persistent complaints from the community and has continuously cited Erie Coke for various environmental violations. DEP has given Erie Coke many opportunities to address violations and comply with state and federal laws. Our staff have participated in stakeholder meetings and have worked with the... Read More

State environmental regulators are moving to shut down Erie Coke, a foundry with a lengthy history of environmental violations. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell said the agency has received numerous complaints from the community over the past decade and has cited the plant, in the city of Erie, for numerous violations of state and federal law. “Our staff have participated in stakeholder meetings and have worked with the community, elected officials and the company to address issues and concerns,” McDonnell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the frequency and severity of Erie Coke’s violations have only increased during... Read More