YOUNGSTOWN - For years, SOBE Thermal has planned to use pyrolysis by superheating tires to make synthetic gas at its Youngstown facility, which also provides heating and cooling to downtown businesses.

The operations are now in receivership, but the Ohio EPA pyrolysis permit is still active.

SOBE Thermal is still supplying steam heating and cooling to 28 downtown buildings, but after financial trouble under owner David Ferro, operations are now under court-appointed receivership.

Aside from heating and cooling, Ferro had pyrolysis plans, and the OH EPA gave the green light with a 10-year permit. 

That's what worries opponents of the plan.

"We just want to make sure that our health and our safety are number one," SOBE Concerned Citizens Organizer Kayshia Washington said. 

The new receiver, Reg Martin, said he had "no knowledge" of the Ohio EPA pyrolysis permit but is "investigating it" and said he will answer questions after he speaks with his attorney. 

While the city appealed Ohio EPA's decision to issue the pyrolysis permit, that's still under review.

The Ohio EPA told 21 News the permit issued to SOBE is transferable to a new owner or operator with notice to the Ohio EPA or local air agency within 30 days.

SOBE Concerned Citizens, the group that's been fighting the project for years, recently sent a letter to the Ohio EPA urging the agency to rescind the permit before any sale happens.

"They could just pick up where SOBE left off. So what we want is to allow EPA to revoke it," Washington said, "We got over 200 signatures from residents here in the city of Youngstown stating that they wanted this air pollution permit to be revoked."