Down load this file to see the changes from existing air permit to the proposed new. Also included in the table are some of the health considerations for each pollutant.

Why is Petmin USA, the proposed pig iron plant to be built in the Ashtabula Harbor, a concern to our community and our environment?

The pig iron plant proposes to use 15,000 million BTUs of natural gas daily (Petminusa.com).  This is more than double the consumption of every household in Ashtabula County combined.  Much of this natural gas will likely be sourced from horizontal hydraulic fracturing, a process which is known to be highly damaging to the environment and public health.  Not only will the gas be sourced from toxic hydrofracking, but fracking waste is making its way back to Ashtabula County and being pumped into any of 15 active injection wells where it threatens to contaminate water and soil in our rich farmlands.  This raises the question of whether the economic gains anticipated from the pig iron plant outweigh the environmental and public health costs, including cumulative impacts from hydrofracking and future development associated with the Risberg gas pipeline, which seems to have been tailor made to this project and can pave the way for more local industries that consume fracked gas.  What analysis has been done to take into account these cumulative impacts?

While Petmin is not the only polluter in the region, a region that has been given the term, Sacrifice Zone (more on that later; see EJ Mapping tool by EPA), it is a site that has the potential to pollute air, water and land quality of our region and the residents who live here. Becoming more informed allows the residents of Ashtabula to help determine their own future. This section helps to give some of the data and calculations that have been offered since the initial Town Hall regarding the Petmin USA pig iron plant on October 29, 2019.

As a group, ACWW, believes that if the residents are informed then we may, as a community, be able to better assist local government in deciding what is best for our future, for our children’s future and for the future of Ashtabula. There are pros and cons to every decision and we must have the opportunity to explore both in order to make the most informed decisions of our fate.