This morning, Erie Coke was up to something that I’ve never seen before. Behind the smoke was another stack shooting flames out no less than 20 FT.
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13 Responses to “Erie Coke at it again”
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[...] when the “coke-smell” was released into the air. The Erie Times covered the story and a blogger put up pictures of the smoke. The emissions covered downtown Erie the entire [...]
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Hey, Jesse, great pics of an old problem. Got the pics out there before the ETN! Chalk up another win for the new media!!
i saw it too as i left my office (on the bayfront, right near erie coke). not only was there the large plume of dark smoke, there was a pipe or smokestack emitting a giant flame.
i snapped this from the parking lot of my building.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/143275/erie-coke-03102010.jpg
Couple of thoughts:
Has anyone contacted DEP? I just sent an e-mail to them but, unfortunately, you must CALL to report anything and I can’t call from work.
“While the major focus of the program is response to spills to land or water, DEP also has significant involvement with air pollution incidents (either from a fire or industrial-transportation-related release) and leaking underground storage tanks.”
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/northwest_regional_office/13776
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/report_an_incident/6010
Thought #2:
Can ErieBlogs look into getting lightbox (or lightbox clone) fired up on here? http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/
Thought #3:
The photos attached are 2000×1500 pixels… that’s a tad large :-)
The noon news on WJET said that they had a call into the DEP.
As far as the picture sizes, it was an impromptu posting and a rookie mistake.
I don’t care how many jobs Erie Coke provides, it is not worth the health of our citizens.
DEP needs to shut them down already.
Erie Coke has spent millions on monitoring equipment, and on trying to solve a difficult problem. Wed. problem was due to a power failure, not the fault of Erie Coke. If Councilman Thomas has his way there will be over 200 more people without jobs. I personally know of several people that work at Erie Coke, and worked for Koppers before that, for over 30 years and there health is fine, One of these people runs marathons. I also know of a man who worked for this company for 30+ years and is now in his 90s
Lets work with Erie Coke to keep jobs, not sabotage the livelihoods of 200 + employees.
Not to mention the other people that have jobs because of Erie Coke. Truck drivers, railroad employees, Coal miners, car manufacturers, steel workers, black smiths, just to name a few.
Dana, I support heavy industry and manufacturing as an important part of our economy and our nation. If we cannot produce anything we cannot protect ourselves. I have no interest in Erie Coke closing its doors at all, it would be a tremendous loss to the area financially and as one of three coke producing facilities in the country another nail in the coffin of the US steel industry.
That being said, it’s being presented to us that they’re doing nothing to remedy the situation. If this is untrue, why not get out there to the ETN or TV news and talk about it? When you have an accident like this it is no different than a chemical spill, except it’s impossible to contain. There has to be failsafes and disaster plans in place, and if there is not it is flat negligence by the company.
Dana,
Erie Coke is acting grossly irresponsible. With science and technology, Erie Coke could reduce its emissions and stay in business. They need to put the money down and reconfigure their operations rather than invest it in their fines from the DEP (hire environmental consultants and engineers). The rules apply to everyone, not to destroy jobs, but to protect the lives of the people and the environment. Your anecdotal evidence is anything but whimsical about people working there and running marathons. The emissions that spew from the company are carcinogenic and that’s been proven. Coke kills and causes thymine dimers on your DNA and sets off cancer. The company may try to hold their worker’s livelihoods between the city residents and government, but what does that say about the greedy fat hogs who are spewing out the toxic chemicals to begin with…
They think they are above the law and use their workers as shields. Is that what we are saying here. I hope not. May reason and logic prevail. The coke plant does not need to shut down and the government needs to help the company get environmentally on track to protect our citizens. Very strange what goes on here in Erie. We keep the tire burning plant at bay and Erie Coke just goes nuts with emissions. WTF?
Jordan
The plant has been in operation for a very long time. Everyone thinks that the fix can be done overnight. It will take time. The emissions from the plant are a lot less than they were even a few years ago. I believe you have walked into something the powers that be are storming about for political gain. Most of the pictures you see on the news is not smoke or smog but steam. With the exception of last Wed. when it was a power outage problem.
Just saw on the news last night they are still trying to close the plant down, I believe the Erie City Council is so short sighted they are blind to the fact that the People at Erie Coke pay there salaries through taxes, even if they do not live in the City of Erie.
By closing the plant they are not only hurting the people that work directly at the plant, but truck drivers, railroad workers, coal miners, car plants, and about 200 other companies that use Coke for there operations, so then they would have to buy coke from plants either father away which will be more expensive, and possibly put them out of business, or buy it from China, where the Coke plants are not monitored by EPA, or DEP.
All a bad idea, City Council get some glasses.
I believe there is like 100 people employed down there. So that is 100 people that would loose their jobs! Most of them working their whole lives down there. Where are these people goin to get a job after the unemployment runs out? Sounds like everyone bitching has a pretty stable and comfortable job.
Lets put this in perspective…
100 familys without income – lets guess at least 25 more houses being foreclosed?? Well we all know there are no good paying jobs in Erie, so half of these people would move out of the area… God – the taxes… now less taxes because they are going to abonden their homes and now the city budget will be over – so here comes higher taxes for those already paying too much… so people are going to buy less things… so there goes more jobs. ETC ETC…. give me a break you greedy a#$es! That polution that everone is talking about… is not that bad… learn your facts! If the COKE plant is that bad – why have the people working working there for 30 years or so have no major health problems? WOW – thats wierd – maybe something in the air down there is good for you???
Do your homework next time and get all the facts — not just the facts to support the story or what you want to believe! We can alwys find the facts to support our wants and desires… the hard part is actually comparing those facts and being a good judge of the facts before you — so please dont be judgemental and say close em down because i heard they were bad so it must be true… WOW – sounds like rumors to me… Grow Up!
erie cike NEEDS TO STAY