Erie Coke Corporation Pleads Guilty to Air Emissions Violations

ERIE, Pa. – Erie Coke Corporation, which is no longer in operation, pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court to two counts related to criminal air emissions violations and agreed to pay a $700,000 fine for those violations, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

On June 17, 2025, Erie Coke pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and knowingly emitting unburned or raw coke oven gas, a hazardous air pollutant, in violation of Erie Coke’s environmental permit.

In connection with the guilty plea, the Court was advised that Erie Coke, which owned and operated a now-shuttered coke manufacturing plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, conspired with its employees to violate the Clean Air Act by, among other things, removing caps on heating flues atop the coke oven batteries in order to allow combustion gases to vent directly into the air and avoid the plant’s environmental monitoring system. In doing so, Erie Coke emitted pollutants in violation of specific provisions of the Title V permit governing opacity limits and discharge of raw coke oven gas. The corporation then knowingly submitted emissions monitoring data to regulators each quarter that did not reflect the actual amount of emissions. The Court was also advised that Erie Coke fostered a culture of noncompliance with the relevant regulations and permit conditions, and that the amount of the fine called for under the plea agreement was determined in part based on the funds currently available to the corporation, which ceased business in 2019. The Court may accept or reject the fine as agreed to by the parties in the plea agreement.

Judge Baxter scheduled sentencing for October 7, 2025. The law provides for a fine of up to $1 million.

Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Vasquez Schmitt and Michael L. Ivory are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Environmental Protection Agency conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Erie Coke.