The state has rushed through approval of a new coke plant near Ebensburg, Cambria County, that is allowed to emit 47 pounds of mercury into the air each year and enough soot and smog that managers of national forests and wilderness areas in nearby states have expressed concern.

The mercury emissions from Sun Coke Inc.'s 1.7 million tons-a-year coking and electric power generating facility would be almost 12 times the 4 pounds a year allowed from U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, which can produce 6.4 million tons of coke annually.

Soot and soot-forming compounds emitted by the new facility will top 4,500 tons a year, and the federal land manager for national forests, wilderness areas and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland has requested a formal review.

The expedited permit was issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection yesterday afternoon, just ahead of today's federal designation of Cambria County as a non-attainment area for soot.

Under such a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation, the coking plant would have had to offset its emissions of soot- and smog-producing particles and compounds by paying thousands of dollars to existing pollution sources, most likely coal-fired power plants, to reduce their emissions.

"The application would have had to be amended to include the [soot] offsets," said David Campbell, chief of EPA's permits and technical assessment branch, whose four-page comment letter on the application was highly critical of the emissions allowances and production processes approved by the DEP.

"The state believes it was all filed in due process, but this was an expedited approval process. It was done quite fast."

Sun Coke Inc. subsidiary Cambria Coke Co. applied for its state permits in January and the 30-day public comment period ended a week ago.

"We're pleased the process is moving forward," said Gerald Davis, a spokesman for Philadelphia-based Sunoco, parent company of Sun Coke.

Even before it received permit approval, the Cambria Coke Co. plant proposal, and the 750 new jobs it will produce, were endorsed by Gov. Ed Rendell. He visited Ebensburg 10 days ago to deliver a $3.3 million financial incentive package that will help Amfire Mining Co. of Latrobe reopen an old mine that will supply coal to the coke plant.

Coke, made by baking coal at high temperatures, is a key ingredient in making steel. Sun Energy's subsidiary, Cambria Coke Co., will sell the coke it produces to International Steel Group of Cleveland.

"The project was a priority for the governor," said Betsy Mallison, a DEP spokeswoman. "He's looking at attracting jobs as well as protecting the environment."

But several environmental groups and federal and state agencies raised questions about the high mercury, soot and sulfur emissions contained in the company's permit application. Sun's original application asked for permission to release 538 pounds of mercury a year.

The U.S. Park Service and Forest Service comments noted that the agencies did not get all the information they needed to fully comment on the permit application. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and seven environmental groups requested that the public comment period be extended.

"Rushing a permit through to get 'in under the wire' to evade more restrictive public health regulations runs absolutely counter to your department's mission to protect public health and the environment," Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, wrote in a letter to DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty.

The DEP denied the extension request.

John Hanger, president of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a statewide environmental group, said the 47 pounds of mercury emissions allowed by the permit is a substantial amount and the organization will review whether the permit was issued legally.

"That's still a very significant amount of mercury," Hanger said. "It demonstrates the pressing need to enact a state law for regulating mercury. If we're going to bring industries like this into the state, we'd better get serious about requiring them to reduce their emissions."

Mercury, released into the air when coal is burned, is a persistent neurotoxin that accumulates in the environment. Human exposure is primarily through fish consumption. Pregnant women, children, subsistence fishermen and recreational anglers are most at risk for health effects that include brain, nervous system, heart and immune system damage.

According to the EPA, it was the DEP's position that new federal mercury controls do not apply to the Cambria Coke Co. plant. The state has filed a federal court challenge to the federal mercury rule issued last month, claiming it is too lax and delays existing mercury controls.

Also to beat the soot emissions offset requirements imposed by today's EPA non-attainment designation, the DEP yesterday approved a permit for Robinson Power Co.'s Beech Hollow waste coal power plant in Robinson, Washington County.

The new 300-megawatt power plant will use 37 million tons of waste coal from the Champion coal refuse pile -- the biggest east of the Mississippi River. The Champion refuse pile contains enough coal to supply the power plant for 17 years.

The facility, which is allowed to emit up to 3.34 pounds of mercury annually, will also use another 20 million tons of waste coal from other nearby refuse piles and reduce acid mine drainage in the area.

Pennsylvania's 200-year-old mining heritage has left behind 8,529 acres of coal refuse piles containing 258 million tons of waste coal that could be burned using modern technology.