Opportunity to Talk with the PA-DEP!

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA-DEP) is coming to Lehighton this Wednesday, May 6th from 3-5PM! The Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled in-person Climate Conversation Workshops across the state to help shape Pennsylvania's next Climate Action Plan. Each session includes an open listening discussion where community members can share concerns and ideas about climate change, followed by a short presentation on Pennsylvania’s Climate Action Plan and available resources. Your input will help guide long-term strategies to reduce emissions, prepare for climate hazards, and support local action. Save Carbon County representatives will be there to share our concerns about Panther Creek Power's burning of waste coal and tires which spews black soot and other toxic emissions into our air.

Background: In response to the noxious odors in members backyards reported in late 2023, Save Carbon County looked for air quality monitoring in Carbon County and found none. The closest EPA air quality monitors were in Allentown, an industrialized urban center that bears no resemblance to the rural area where we live. In response, Save Carbon County purchased and installed a network of 15 PurpleAir monitors in key locations across Carbon County. The PurpleAir monitors continuously measure particulate matter (including the carcinogenic PM2.5 particles) and provide an early-warning alert system for poor air quality events (screen shot from a PurpleAir monitor output is below). Starting in early spring 2024, the PurpleAir monitors reported many days of poor air quality in the Panther Valley at local elementary and high schools, prompting us to investigate further. We identified the Panther Creek Power plant (now owned by Keel Infrastructure) as the source of these emissions. Panther Creek Power is a coal-fired plant that was permitted to burn tires in 2024. Given the poor air quality around the plant as measured by the PurpleAir monitors, we secured grant funding for an Aeroqual Series 500 handheld monitor to measure specific particulates. Panther Valley residents are also recording and reporting their own experiences with poor air quality, falling soot (including photos with soot the size of snowflakes falling outside a home in Nesquehoning in September), and soot build-up on their decks (also documented in photographs submitted to the PA-DEP). In the summer of 2025, 11 separate complaints that we are aware of were submitted to the PA-DEP! The complaints were never followed up on. Many complainants never received an acknowledgment or response from the PA-DEP.

Most recently, on November 8, 2025, an alert resident of Nesquehoning called the Save Carbon County hotline to report a strong smell of burning plastic and chemicals. The details are captured in this blog. After submitting this information to the PA-DEP complaint website, we have yet to receive a response. We have not had any complaints since that time because the main turbine at Panther Creek Power had a catastrophic failure and has not been repaired or replaced – effectively, no waste coal or tire burning is taking place. While we welcome the soot-free skies and clear air, we know it may not be a permanent situation, and we remain concerned about the health of Carbon County residents (which ranks 23rd out of 67 Pennsylvania counties in cancer rates). As you may already be aware, burning waste coal and tires produces soot and many other emissions that directly contribute to climate change. At the local level, the black carbon (soot) reported in Nesquehoning absorbs sunlight directly and emits heat into the atmosphere, contributing to atmospheric warming. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a responsibility to uphold the constitution with emphasis on the Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment (Article I, Section 27 of the state constitution), approved by voters in 1971. The Environmental Rights Amendment guarantees the people the right to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic environmental values. It establishes the Commonwealth as trustee, requiring it to conserve public natural resources for present and future generations. By following the Environmental Rights Amendment, we effectively address the pollutants that contribute to climate change. The PA-DEP must uphold and enforce the policies already adopted – from the Air Program’s Air Quality Monitoring program to the Control of VOC Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Sources, both listed on the PA-DEP website. We also recommend adding Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Methane emissions to any future power plant permits. Both emissions have been shown to be significant for climate change; adding them would not have a large impact on DEP’s limited staff resources. The PA-DEP is flush with policy; there is considerable structure in place and documented. What is needed is enforcement and consequences for violators. Adding another policy to an overloaded organization may have little to no impact – implementing and enforcing what is already there will make the biggest difference.