YOUNGSTOWN — The City Council is set to approve a second one-year moratorium Wednesday on the process SOBE Energy Solutions LLC plans to use at its downtown Youngstown site to convert rubber tire chips into synthetic gas to create steam energy.

Sponsored by Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, the ordinance would impose a second one-year moratorium on pyrolysis — the gasification or burning of tires, chipped tires, plastics and electronic waste — in Youngstown. The first moratorium was approved on December 20, 2023 by the municipal council.

Like the original moratorium, the new moratorium states that the City Council “desires to investigate the impacts that pyrolysis and gasification would have on the safety and well-being of the community prior to any facility that converts, or attempts to convert, plastics.” , tire-derived chips, chipped tires. and/or electronic waste into fuel or raw material through certain chemical conversion processes, including pyrolysis or gasification, begins construction and begins operation.

Davis said, “I’ve done a lot of research and I haven’t seen anything positive or anything that says it’s a good idea to do this in the city. We should keep the moratorium in place for another year and then let them fight it out in court. We have a standard set in law. We will enforce it on our part.

David Ferro, CEO of SOBE, declined to comment Monday. He said last year that the plant would be “very clean, with zero hazardous waste and zero hazardous emissions” and would only use shredded tires.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said he looked at SOBE’s proposal and that “from an environmental justice perspective, you couldn’t pick a worse location.” This is a more intense process of creating fuel that should not be in our business district.

Ray said he would never approve the SOBE proposal.

“We couldn’t have chosen a worse place for this,” he said. “It’s a terrible location given its proximity to a hospital, university and social housing. It’s not just about changing the fuel source, it’s about producing the fuel on site and that’s a completely different matter. »

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued an “air permit to install and operate” to SOBE in February.

The EPA said it would allow SOBE to install a “thermolyzer unit to treat tire chips.” The unit will produce a synthetic gas that will serve as supplemental fuel in two existing natural gas boilers already installed, operating and licensed. The permit complies with applicable Ohio environmental rules and regulations, so the Ohio EPA is obligated to issue a permit.

SOBE issued a statement after Youngstown’s initial moratorium, saying it respected the city’s decision.

SOBE has more than 40 heating and cooling customers throughout Downtown as well as Youngstown State University.

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, SOBE acquired the former Youngstown Thermal LLC and Youngstown Thermal Cooling LLC in November 2021 for $250,000. The company had been operating the facility for about two years.

Before taking over, Youngstown Thermal for years experienced numerous problems getting its cooling system to work, leaving the handful of downtown businesses that used it without air conditioning during the summer.

Youngstown Thermal went into receivership in 2017 after the Public Utility Commission of Ohio was informed by the company’s former CEO that the company was experiencing financial difficulties that could have caused an energy crisis in downtown city. Youngstown Thermal could not provide adequate service to its customers and was in danger of insolvency when the PUCO intervened.

Youngstown Thermal is the nation’s oldest district heating and cooling system, having begun operations in 1895. It was designed to produce and distribute steam to heat downtown businesses using coal as the primary source of heat. fuel.