YOUNGSTOWN - Youngstown City Council is looking to pass an emergency resolution that would impose a moratorium on SOBE Thermal Energy Plant from operating a facility in downtown Youngstown. 

During their next council meeting Wednesday, Decmber 20, council members would impose a moratorium for a period of 12 months on any facility that converts, or attempts to convert, pyrolysis, gasification or combustion of tires, plastics and electronic waste in the city. 

During this 12 month period, council will look into the environmental impact, as well as the public health concerns surrounding SOBE Thermal Energy's plans to use tire scraps to generate heat for downtown businesses. 

"I'm hoping it will add to what we did when we passed the initial piece and armed with this, and with the letter from the federal EPA, it would make the state EPA give more attention and maybe reconsider the position that they've taken with the permits for SOBE," said Sixth Ward councilwoman Anita Davis, who sponsored the resolution.

SOBE would use scraps of tire chips without air to extract a gas, known as synthesis gas, or syngas, and burn the gas in boilers to produce hot water. This would create heat for SOBE's 30-plus clients. 

The proposed energy plant would be located downtown, less than a half a mile southwest of Youngstown State, and would operate near densely populated neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, student housing and churches. 

"Either we own Youngstown, we as a collective of citizens of Youngstown, either we own Youngstown or we don't," said Davis. "Allowing an entity that's going to come in and place all of our lives, if something goes astray, place all of our lives in jeopardy, that's not something where we can just sit by and take it easy."

In council's ordinance to impose the moratorium, they say that SOBE would operate on a parcel currently zoned as a Mixed-Use Community District, meaning that the area is NOT zoned for industrial or energy production facilities. 

SOBE's plans have created concern in the community, with citizens raising questions over the safety of SOBE's pyrolysis process, as well as potential fire hazard concerns. 

If all six council members vote to approve the moratorium on Wednesday, it will take effect and be in force immediately.