Residents seek meeting with coke plant officials
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Residents of municipalities downwind from the Shenango Coke Works on Neville Island are concerned about the company's long history of air pollution violations and childhood asthma levels in the Northgate School District that are the highest in the state.
About a dozen of them today hand-delivered a letter requesting a "public accountability meeting" to Shenango plant manager Steven Guzy, who came to the front gate of the plant to accept the letter and agreed to the meeting, but not until "the timing is better."
The Allegheny County Health Department cited Shenango in August for 114 air pollution violations and assessed fines of $114,000. The company has appealed the fines.
Bill Bartlett of Bellevue, who delivered the letter to Mr. Guzy outside the guard shack at Shenango's main gate shortly before noon, said he became concerned about his health and the health of his 7-year-old son when he heard that asthma rates at Northgate are 36.7 percent of the school population and a recent report indicated that a county monitor in Avalon, next to Bellevue, showed the area along the Ohio River to have the worst air in the county in 2010.
"There may be other sources upwind but I don't know how much further you need to look than Shenango," Mr Bartlett said. "Shenango is slapping us in the face, fighting over paying a pittance of a fine rather than fixing the problem."
Mr. Guzy said the company is working with the Health Department to correct the violations.
First Published December 14, 2011 12:00 am
