News

Erie citizens will have a chance later this year to tell the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection how their lives are impacted by pollution coming from the Erie Coke Corp. plant at the foot of East Avenue. It’s a rare opportunity for the general public to have a direct effect on the plant’s future, said Rachel Filippini, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit environmental group. “Erie Coke is operating on an expired Title V permit and when the DEP is ready to issue a new one later this year, there will be a period... Read More

Erie Coke Corp. has appealed a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection order in February that the company take steps to correct a variety of pollution violations that DEP said it found. The company’s appeal argued that DEP’s order is “unreasonable,” among other things. What’s unreasonable is that DEP has been wrangling with Erie Coke for years over air quality and other issues related to the plant at the foot of East Avenue. And that nearby residents, and indeed the entire community, have been exposed to the health ramifications of the company’s checkered (at best) environmental record. Many of the violations... Read More

Erie County Council members will likely join their counterparts in the city by condemning the Erie Coke Corp. for several recent environmental violations. Councilman Kyle Foust asked at a finance committee meeting on Thursday for support for a resolution that would mirror one approved unanimously by Erie City Council on April 3. “Erie Coke certainly needs to be held accountable,” Foust said. “We can’t have an employer creating environmental and therefore possibly a health hazard in our own backyard. The time has come that this company needs to be put on notice and have its feet held to the fire... Read More

Similar work by a citizen group in Tonawanda, NY helped to close a coke plant that was operated by the same owners as Erie Coke.   The citizen group called Hold Erie Coke Accountable plans to live up to its name.    It will be conducting its own soil sampling outside the Erie Coke plant. The citizen group has watched as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection slapped violation after violation against Erie Coke. The company last week received orders to repair its wastewater treatment facility after polluted water spilled onto the ground last month on two occasions.  Erie Coke was... Read More

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) found contaminants and malodors outside the Erie Coke plant that are in violation of its operating permit, according to a notice of violation sent to the plant superintendent Monday. The letter cites eight violations from January to March 2019. One of the violations said the DEP collected samples of a contaminant, which it has identified as coke, at the East Ave. Boat Launch on Feb. 15. The notice also said malodors, or a very unpleasant smell, was detected from Erie Coke on March 9 and 27 outside its property. No pollution is permitted outside... Read More