Carty says FDS Coke “should not screw around”
Say what you will about our Mayor, but he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, Tom Henry from the Blade reports, Mayor riled by coke plant moves.
During an interview from his office, Mr. Finkbeiner said he wants FDS Coke Plant LLC to abide by tough environmental restrictions that former Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Jones wrote into the original permit.
He said the company “should not screw around” any longer.
Mr. Finkbeiner accused FDS of “playing games again” when he heard about paperwork that it filed June 22 with Toledo’s Division of Environmental Services.
The City of Oregon’s Mayor is on vacation but it doesn’t appear Oregon is willing to take that stand, preferring to assume the Ohio EPA will be reasonable.
Further disturbing is this second Blade article, Budget compromise might allow appeals, that makes me wonder since it’s a Republican dominated committee of 6, who is there to represent NWO? Shouldn’t a legislature from our area be involved in this? The Blade article doesn’t list all of the members, but the only person quoted from near here is Dale Miller from Cleveland…
Given that it’s being stated that:
The talks are largely focused on ensuring that property owners, governments, environmental groups, or others who are not involved in appeals over the proposed $800 million plant could enter the fray if they feel changes made to the 2004 permit adversely affect them.
Our Mayor and our City’s only option is to speak out publicly and hope someone listens…
Ted? Are you out there?
Okay, let’s not recall him after all.
June 30th, 2007 at 12:06 pmFDS is not playing games. Carty is. He just wants the city to get a cut. This plan was long in place before last week. Additionally, this whole issue pisses me off. The majority of Toledoans wish to promote more industry. When we have the opportunity, people sh!t on it. Get it together Toledo. I also completely approve of the new ethanol plant idea. But maybe that’s too far risky for Toledoans. Get it together. I’m tired of this nonsense. If the state and feds allow, I don’t want our local idiots getting in the way.
July 1st, 2007 at 12:49 amYou mean those same feds who lied about air quality at Ground Zero? The ones who let workers be there for months without proper protection? The ones now watching those workers die?
Yeah, sure, Kurt. The EPA will always take good care of us. And in this case, their idea of taking good care of us is to water down their own regulations for this very, very special project that will bring jobs and illness and pollution to our area.
Economic growth doesn’t have to come at the expense of the health of the people in a community. I’m not as eager as are you to grab whatever filthy opportunity comes our way — and I’m glad to see our Mayor taking a stand on this. It’s about time someone in an official capacity did.
Next, I want him to announce the identity of the investors so we can welcome our new neighbors by name. Sunshine has a nice sanitizing effect.
July 1st, 2007 at 10:29 amGerken and the Mayor are pushing hard because…..
“Toledo City Council voted in favor of creating a municipal electric utility for the city on March 28, 2006. The board’s action gave the city the authority to buy and distribute electricity, in hopes it could do so cheaper than FirstEnergy Corp. If the power goes on the electric grid, the parties that generate the electricity could be eligible for compensation from FirstEnergy under Ohio’s “net-metering” law. But the electricity would not be available to a local municipal power authority. Mr. Gerken said Toledo and Lucas County simply want to be “on the front end of this discussion, not the back end.” “We feel whoever they are owes it to us to have us at the table,” he said.”
http://www.electricityforum.com/news/jun07/Cokingplanttoldtosharesteampower.html
July 1st, 2007 at 10:43 amThe permit issue has to do with environmental issues and is a separate one from the power issue. There’s nothing in the permit from my understanding of it that even deals with who gets the power generated by the coking plant.
So, if that’s what you think is the Mayor’s primary motivation? That doesn’t make sense to me unless you believe he’s going to try to negotiate his support for the permit changes based on the power issue. While at times the Mayor does not do things in a way I agree with, coming out publicly on the environmental issues and then “trading” those concerns away for power would not sit well with a large number of people.
July 1st, 2007 at 2:09 pmThe Mayor’s motivation is not clear except to say thay when he was on the Port Authority Board he was pushing the Coke Plant then as well as now.
The electricity plan is an extra benefit or so it would appear to be.
“While at times the Mayor does not do things in a way I agree with, coming out publicly on the environmental issues and then “trading” those concerns away for power would not sit well with a large number of people.”
He is a politician and he/they are not always concerned with public opinion when the larger issue is before them, in this case, he has come out on the side of the plant being built.
“Jun 5: Finkbeiner backs stalled coke plant
EAST TOLEDO — “With Oregon Mayor Marge Brown at his side, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner yesterday expressed his continued support for a planned $600 million coke works on the cities’ border, despite the project’s most recent setback. ‘The plant is moving forward,’ Mr. Finkbeiner said at a press conference. ‘Mayor Brown, myself, and [Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken] … are all fully committed to seeing this plant constructed here,’” Toledo Blade.”
http://www.ohiocitizen.org/news.html
July 1st, 2007 at 9:24 pmHave you read the permit? Do you have any idea what the permit modification is all about? I’m not sure what regulations you feel are being “watered down”, but the newer permit would not have been issued in violation of any state or federal laws. The coke plant permit was revoked by the appeals commission because of an administrative issue… it turns out nobody every bothered to “write down” that the Ohio EPA director was still allowed to do his job while the tree-huggers were trying to kill any and every industrial project that tries to come into NWO.
I don’t know what Carty defines as “screwing around”, but if I had to guess, I’d bet that the coke plant folks xeroxed their prior application and mailed it in again.
“since it’s a Republican dominated committee of 6, who is there to represent NWO” – Northwest Ohio would be represented by those filing an appeal. If you feel you’ve been wronged by the OEPA Director, you have a right to appeal. If you are insinuating that any panel with Republicans on it cannot be trusted, then there’s really no point trying to have a rational discussion with you – you can go sit in the corner with the conspiracy theorists who think that “bad guys” must be trying to build this plant and that the EPA somehow conspired to poison workers at ground zero (and why not, THEY probably had something to do with it anyway, they’re led by republican appointees…
, but please stay out of the way while the grown-ups are trying to talk.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm“I’m not sure what regulations you feel are being “watered down”, but the newer permit would not have been issued in violation of any state or federal laws.”
Well, if we look at;
“July 14, 2004
Get the mercury out. That’s what the Sierra Club argued to the Ohio EPA as it opposed a permit sought by the FDS Corporation for a new coking plant in Oregon, Ohio. The company proposed to dump 680 pounds of mercury per year into the air from its new plant on the shore of Lake Erie, but due in part to successful advocacy by Sierra Club activists, the agency forced the company to reduce its emissions by 95% and to install state-of-the-art mercury monitors on the plant. Now the company has appealed to the state environmental review commission to fight the mercury limits.”
September 2, 2005
Mercury is an increasingly alarming air pollutant that makes its way into our bodies through a contaminated food chain and can cause serious neurological problems, including mental retardation and birth defects. Last year, Sierra Club went to Ohio EPA to argue for new, stringent limits on mercury pollution for a new coking plant, and racked up a small victory when Ohio decided to reduce toxic emissions by 95%. However, clearly unsatisfied with this outcome, U.S. Coking appealed the decision and threatened to move its operation out of state unless the pollution limits were seriously weakened.
June 1, 2007
The Sierra Club has succeeded in protecting Lake Erie and its surrounding communities from massive pollution, including toxic mercury and lead. On June 1st, an Ohio State court vindicated the Sierra Club’s legal challenge of U.S Coking Group’s proposed new coke plant that would have been built on the western shores of Lake Erie. If constructed, the coke plant would pump seven million pounds of additional pollutants annually into this already heavily polluted area. The village of Harbor View, a community already severly burdened by air pollution from nearby industrial facilities, would be particularly hard-hit by this project. The governments of Canada and of the state of Michigan raised concerns about mercury emissions from the proposed plant, which has the potential to become one the largest sources of mercury pollution in the Midwest.
After winning a permit battle and appeal related to this plant, the company cut a backroom deal with the Ohio EPA and obtained a modified permit that allowed for increased mercury and lead emissions and massive increases in acid rain emissions. In response, the Club filed another legal challenge to the backroom-deal permit, and last Friday the Ohio state court vindicated these concerns. This victory served to stop the state in its tracks from making a backroom permit deal; in addition to protecting the lake and nearby communities from toxic pollution, this victory also represents a win for democratic values.”
Nope no laws broken, just deals trying to be made to circumvent the rules in place.
And the tree huggers comment is off target and silly. Sure, mercury will possibly not affect us here, but in maybe some state to the east of us there will be a concentration of mercury that will endanger the sport fishing industry, contaminate a school ground and so on and then people will complain that their tax dollars should be used to clean up, another, EPA related problem.
“THEY probably had something to do with it anyway, they’re led by republican appointees…), but please stay out of the way while the grown-ups are trying to talk.”
There is really use or sense trying to debate something with someone whose best line is this.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:28 pmI’ll start by apologizing for past comments and will try to remain civil and on-topic.
To begin with, all permits issued by OEPA are public documents and are available on their website:
Initial Permit
Modified Permit
Next: No, I do not live in Toledo. I am an environmental professional in Ohio and I am a member of the Air and Waste Management Association and the Ohio Manufacturers Association. I do have a stake in coking, steelmaking, auto manufacturing, glassmaking… light and heavy industry are still an important, albeit shrinking, part of Ohio’s economy. Yes, it would be great if we could all have tech or professional jobs, but nobody seems to be offering those right now.
The ramifications of this project go beyond whether or not an industrial facility will be built in Northwest Ohio. In the grand scheme of things, this plant is relatively insignificant. What does matter, in my humble opinion, is the business climate that is being established by the experience of this and countless other startups in the area.
Politically speaking, the project is being supported by Carty Finkbeiner and Marge Brown. It was resurrected by Ted Strickland with an ammendment to his budget bill. The new permit will now be evaluated by an Ohio EPA administration appointed by Governor Strickland. How many Democrats are needed in the chain before “Toledo” is represented?
I’ve been following this project closely for some time now. Aside from the aforementioned business aspects, the mercury issue associated with this plant is extremely interesting. The project’s environmental consultant gave a very good presentation on permit appeal strategies, using the coke plant as a case study. See the Powerpoint Presentation here. Basically, Ohio EPA messed up and assumed that mercury would be controlled by the existing pollution control equipment, which was a completely wrong assumption. The EPA cannot impose a restriction on a pollutant unless there is a viable technology to meet that restriction. As part of the so called “relaxing” of the permit, the plant agreed to install an activated carbon injection system to control mercury, an extraordinarily expensive and unproven technology. I do not see see an “end run” around regulations or “backroom deals” here, I see a company going out of its way to rectify the ideals of the regulatory community with real world considerations of building and operating a plant.
Based on the information I have seen, there is no technical or legal basis for opposition to the coke plant. The arguments that I have heard are either blatantly wrong or NIMBY based. Lastly, unless you want to get into a drawn out debate about media bias, I’ll leave the commentary from the Toledo Blade alone.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:58 pm“Based on the information I have seen, there is no technical or legal basis for opposition to the coke plant.”
How about the simple statement that more mercury releases into the atmosphere is not good for anyone.
And my comment is not NIMBY comment, it is just that more mercury releases is not a good idea and all we need to do is look around and see the damage it has done.
“Yes, it would be great if we could all have tech or professional jobs, but nobody seems to be offering those right now.”
Interestingly enough on a recent trip to the Seattle area I read the want ads and there are plenty of companies hiring, professional and technical. But here the area clings to the dated industries and some clamor for more 2010 thinking and yet some want to cling to 1910 manufacturing and manufacturing processes.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:40 pm“As part of the so called “relaxing” of the permit, the plant agreed to install an activated carbon injection system to control mercury, an extraordinarily expensive and unproven technology.”
Unproven?
http://www.wapc.com/products.htm
Perhaps you mean in regards to Coking Plants?
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:01 pmSearching for PE, I found Preequilibrium emission
Which would seem to indicate that it is the result of some process where the end result has some value related to light transmission or absortion of the particle or;
PE - pentaerythritol
July 4th, 2007 at 7:44 am+ C(CH2-OH)4
+ 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl) 1,3-propanediol
PE - phosphatidyl ethanolamine
+ R-COO-CH2-CH[O-C(=O)-R]-CH2-OP(=O)(OH)-O-CH2CH2-NH2
+ phosphoric acid mono(2-aminoethyl) mono[3-(alkanyl-carboxy)-2-(alkenylcarboxy)propyl] ester
PE - polyethylene
+ [-CH2CH2-]n
+ polyethane
And now comes the call from Oregon’s Mayor;
Oregon demands tougher permit
Mayor wants original limits on coking plant’s emissions
But; “”In particular, the city desires the original limit of 36 annual pounds of mercury to remain in the permit if this standard is achievable,” she wrote.”
…is achievable.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070707/NEWS16/707070373
July 7th, 2007 at 9:23 amThese greens are asking us the change our lifestyles and live a more simple life but they themselves dont want to why dont they just go take a hike and quit telling us how to live
September 24th, 2008 at 5:00 pm