Tire burning?

Really?

The fact that this is even being contemplated is mind boggling.

Panther Creek power plant’s owners have filed a petition with the state Department of Environmental Protection to allow it to add tire burning to its use of coal waste to generate power to mine Bitcoin in Nesquehoning.

That’s right, burn tires.

There have been hearings and meetings on the petition with plenty of residents speaking out against it.

And rightfully so.

Mahoning Township resident Steve Chuckra may have summed it up best at a meeting last year.

Chuckra said he moved to Pennsylvania after living seven years in Denver, Colorado, because he was tired of dirty air, and other things like heavy traffic and consistent development.

Chuckra and his wife live within five miles of the Panther Creek plant as the crow flies.

“I was surprised to see the modification to use tire-derived fuel at Panther Creek,” Chuckra said. “International Paper in Ticonderoga, New York tried and exceeded Environmental Protection Agency limits within a very short time of their operational test and they stopped the test for that reason. I grew up in Pennsylvania and I feel very strongly that we have a heritage of environmental neglect and allowing things like this to happen. I hope we don’t repeat those same mistakes.”

Some of those mistakes that Chuckra might have been alluding to are the decades-long eyesore of the “zinc hill” in Palmerton and long-abandoned coal mines, coupled with coal slags, that litter the region.

At a hearing last month on the matter, Robert Strauss of Nesquehoning said “The burning of over 78,000 shredded tires will emit toxic fumes containing Benzene/hydrocarbons and other related toxins that will have a devastating impact on our environment and cause serious health issues.”

Strauss then brought up an unpleasant part of Carbon County’s environmental history.

“If we are to learn anything from our history, we can only recall how we were promised by these experts that the Tonolli battery plant was completely safe. It turned into a federal toxic waste dump resulting in the primary cause of many cancer-related health issues, even deaths.”

The Tonolli battery plant operated from 1976 to 1984 in Nesquehoning, eventually becoming a Superfund Site.

At a meeting last year, former Nesquehoning councilwoman Abbie Guardiani told residents there wasn’t anything that the borough could do because the plant’s petition meets DEP’s guidelines.

“That was what I found out,” she said. “I didn’t like it and DEP told me tough noogies.”

At that same meeting, Mayor Tom Kattner suggested to residents to appeal to state lawmakers for help.

Which leads to another point, there has been nothing from our lawmakers - state Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Doyle Heffley as well as the Carbon County commissioners - on Panther Creek’s request to burn tires.

And the fact that the plant is producing Bitcoin, which does not benefit Carbon residents in any way except those who work at the plant, is just another layer of insult.

Our representatives in Harrisburg and county leaders should drive past the “zinc hill” or recall the Tonolli battery plant fiasco and then maybe they will help prevent what could become another black eye for the region.

And if that’s not enough impetus for action, consider this:

Any young family that is thinking of moving into Carbon County and does some research could see this headline: “Carbon County plant gets OK to burn tires.”

Ninety-nine out of 100 young mothers who see that are saying “no way.”

Again, burning tires? Really?

Tom DeSchriver/tdeschriver@tnonline.com