'Culture of non-compliance': Erie Coke pleads guilty to pollution with fine at $700,000
The Erie Coke Corp. has agreed to pay a $700,000 fine to end its criminal prosecution over the illegal release of air pollutants at its now-defunct plant at the foot of East Avenue along the Lake Erie shoreline.
Erie Coke and the U.S. Attorney's Office both recommended the $700,000 fine as part of the deal that accompanied Erie Coke's guilty plea to two felony counts in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter accepted the guilty plea on behalf of Erie Coke as a corporate defendant. She set sentencing for Oct. 7.
Erie Coke was indicted on eight felony counts of environmental fraud in November 2022. The corporation faced a fine of up to $500,000 on each count.
The corporation pleaded guilty to the lead count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act from October 2015 to December 2019, when the plant closed. It also pleaded guilty to one count of violating what is known as a Title V permit requirements, referring to the type of environmental permit the plant needed to operate.
Erie Coke "fostered a culture of non-compliance," the prosecutor, Pittsburgh-based Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole A. Vasquez Schmitt, said in court.
A lawyer for Erie Coke, Rodney Personius, of Buffalo, entered the guilty plea. He said Erie Coke agreed to the plea deal and recommended fine.
The plant, whose owners are based in Buffalo, was accused of deliberately bypassing air-pollution monitors at the 137-employee plant as it made coke — a derivative of coal produced by heating coal in sealed ovens at temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the indictment.
Erie Coke no longer owns the 182-acre site of the plant, the focus of government-funded environmental cleanup. The Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority acquired the property in early 2024, and the Port Authority and the Erie County Development Authority plan to redevelop the site.
The Erie Coke site had been used for industrial manufacturing since 1833. The site had been coke plant since 1925.
This is a developing story. Return to GoErie.com for updates.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Coke pleads guilty in pollution case, agrees to pay $700,000 fine
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US toy retailers grapple with effects of trump's tariffs
US toy retailers are facing mounting challenges as the trade tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump continue to squeeze margins and complicate sourcing strategies. With nearly 80% of toys sold in the United States produced in China, many businesses are reporting delayed shipments, rising costs and even legal action—all as hopes hinge on the expiry of a temporary tariff pause in early July. Retailers are contending with a web of overlapping tariffs on Chinese imports, where duty rates now stack as high as 145% in some cases—far above the 30% headline figure quoted by officials. Smaller toy importers are disproportionately affected, with many forced to increase prices or eat some of the added costs to stay afloat. Alignable reports that over 57% of small retailers expect revenue losses due to this uncertainty. The combination of high tariffs and shifting trade policy has caused substantial supply chain delays. Companies such as Basic Fun! rushed to forward-ship container loads while the tariffs were temporarily reduced from 145% to 30%—an effort that offered short-term relief but failed to eliminate ongoing uncertainty. Multiple firms have also started cutting orders or narrowing their product lines in anticipation of possible disruptions, especially during crucial retail periods like the lead-up to Christmas. Several toymakers have taken legal action against the administration. Learning Resources, an Illinois-based educational toy producer with around 500 employees, has sued the federal government, arguing Trump exceeded his authority under IEEPA in imposing steep tariffs. St Paul's Mischief Toy Store has joined similar litigation claiming the 145% levy is unconstitutional. These challenges follow broader legal rulings, such as a Federal Trade Court decision in late May blocking the so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs under IEEPA—though that ruling remains stayed during appeal. Meanwhile, larger toy manufacturers are proactively shifting production to countries like Vietnam, India and Indonesia. Major brands such as Mattel, Hasbro and MGA Entertainment have accelerated their transition away from China—MGA, for instance, plans to boost output from alternate sites from around 15% to 40% in the next six months. The current 90-day tariff reduction is set to expire in early July, re-establishing uncertainty for importers who must rapidly adapt or lock in alternative supply chains. Analysts warn that sustained high duties may lead to permanent business closures in the SME sector, reduced innovation capacity and higher prices at the checkout for consumers—especially families with school-age children. With courts mulling the legality of the tariffs and retailers racing to diversify their sourcing, the US toy industry remains on edge. Any extension or change in tariff policy could determine whether small toymakers and independent stores survive the current economic squeeze—or succumb to rising costs and regulatory the shifting tariff landscape with real-time data and market-leading analysis. Request a free demo for GlobalData's Strategic Intelligence . "US toy retailers grapple with effects of trump's tariffs" was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Florida lawmakers pass charter school expansion on last day of session
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — On the 105th day of what was supposed to be a 60-day legislative session, Florida lawmakers passed a bill to allow charter schools to 'co-locate' inside traditional public schools. It's the latest move by the Republican-controlled Legislature to expand school choice in a state that has long been a national model for conservative education policy. The measure to expand what are known as 'schools of hope' faced fierce pushback from Democratic lawmakers and public school advocates, and the proposal appeared to die on what was supposed to be the last day of the regularly scheduled session in May. But as budget talks stretched into the summer, lawmakers resurrected the measure and slipped it into the budget package, sidestepping the normal vetting process for legislation. Lawmakers gave the bill final approval after 10 p.m. on Monday, with just a handful of members of the public present in the chamber galleries. Among the groups that lobbied for the measure was Citadel Enterprise Americas, the investment firm launched by Miami-based hedge fund billionaire and Republican megadonor Ken Griffin, who has given millions to education efforts, including charter schools. The bill, which now heads to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk, will allow more charter school operators to open schools of hope, and to operate out of under-enrolled public schools rent-free. State lawmakers created the program in 2017 to encourage more publicly funded, privately run schools to open in areas where traditional public schools had been failing for years, giving students and families in those neighborhoods a way to bail out of a persistently struggling school. 'We're seeing a lot of vacant and underused buildings paid for by our taxpayer dollars,' said Republican state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka. 'We have operators that want to come in and give the best education to those who are in schools that haven't been getting the greatest education,' she added, saying, 'let's give them the opportunity.' Charter schools are often linked to for-profit business interests. For years, the Florida Legislature has expanded the school choice landscape, which some lawmakers and their families have financial ties to. With the bill, lawmakers also are redefining which schools can be considered academically struggling, which will "greatly increase the number of schools being designated as persistently low performing schools,' according to a legislative staff analysis of an early version of the measure. The bill loosens restrictions on where schools of hope can operate, allowing them to open within the walls of a public school — even a high-performing one — if the campus has underused or vacant facilities. That provision alarmed Democratic lawmakers at a time when public districts large and small are seeing their enrollments decline as more Florida families choose charters, private schools or homeschool options. 'It changes everything in the state for traditional public schools,' Democratic state Rep. Robin Bartleman said. 'Why are you messing with schools that are working?' she asked her Republican colleagues. 'This is a sin.' Florida's measure also gives charter school operators a way to bypass local school districts, allowing them to submit an application to open a school to a public college or university, many of which are now led by former Republican lawmakers. This year, Tennessee's Republican-dominated Statehouse signed off on their own bypass bill, allowing charter school hopefuls to directly apply to a state commission if a local school board repeatedly denies an application within three years. Republican leaders there have long seen many local school boards as hostile to potential charter school operators, resulting in a steady push to find ways for operators to apply to the state. In recent years, Florida lawmakers have made it easier than ever for families to leave public schools after expanding the state's voucher program to allow all K-12 students to qualify for taxpayer funded scholarships, regardless of household income. ___ Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi contributed reporting from Providence, Rhode Island. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NAACP planning to sue Musk AI company over supercomputer pollution
The NAACP and an environmental group are planning to sue Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, amid concerns that its supercomputer facility is prompting air pollution in Memphis, the groups announced Tuesday. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), on behalf of the NAACP, sent a letter to xAI and its affiliates on Tuesday notifying the company of their intent to sue over its alleged continued use of methane gas turbines in southwest Memphis, SELC attorney Patrick Anderson told reporters Tuesday. The facility, which opened in June of last year, is located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis, according to the NAACP. The turbines, Anderson said, have pumped hazardous materials into the air for the past year and are in violation of the Clean Air Act. 'The law is abundantly clear. XAI needed to get an air permit before installing and operating any of the turbines at their facility,' Anderson said during the Tuesday press conference. 'Over the last year, these turbines have pumped out pollution that threatens the health of Memphis families.' Some local officials claimed that an exemption allowed xAI to operate the turbines for up to 364 days without a permit, but Anderson argued that there is no such exemption for turbines and that no official has been able to point to a specific exemption. 'We cannot afford to normalize this kind of environmental injustice — where billion-dollar companies set up polluting operations in Black neighborhoods without any permits and think they'll get away with it because the people don't have the power to fight back. We will not allow xAI to get away with this,' said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. The NAACP pointed to studies showing Boxtown, the neighborhood closest to the xAI data center, faces a cancer risk four times the national average. A spokesperson for xAI said the company's temporary power generation units are 'operating in compliance with all applicable laws' in response to the announcement. 'We take our commitment to the community and environment seriously,' the spokesperson added. xAI has said the turbines will have technology to reduce emissions and it is improving the city's economy by investing billions of dollars into the supercomputer facility, the Associated Press reported. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
