Letter to the editor: Residents' concerns key for future of Shenango coke plant

Regarding the article “Residents urged to weigh in on future of Neville Island’s former Shenango coke plant” (Feb. 19, TribLIVE): It is great that the Shenango Reimagined Advisory Council has been at work on this issue for the past year, and recognizes the importance of including voices from the community in its decision-making process regarding the best way to repurpose the Shenango plant.

It is paramount that DTE Energy listen to residents’ voices. DTE Energy has already shared intentions for an underground pipeline at the site, while residents state that it is important to them that no “hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, or most related petrochemical activities” be performed at this site, as well as wishing for whatever moves into the site not perform activities requiring an Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act Title V permit. Underground pipelines can have detrimental effects on the environment, and would only increase concerns residents already feel about the pollution emitted from this site until 2018.

Residents wish to see the plant repurposed in a way that is beneficial to the environment, and not disruptive to their lives, which is the least DTE Energy could do for them after the plant caused massive pollution and disruption to their health for years.

Julia Hilbert

Bloomfield

The writer, a senior social work major at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote this for a Poverty, Income and Wealth Inequality class.