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Bob Soeder watches from the small yard behind his Avalon car dealership as a belch of thick, black smoke rises from the Shenango Coke Works plant on Neville Island across the Ohio River, followed by a few deep yellow puffs.

"It's in my face every day. They've been really smoking up a storm and stinking up the neighborhood badly lately," said Soeder, owner of Metro Motors. "The last couple of months is probably the worst it's been."

In December 2003, compliance rates for most parts of the plant were almost 100 percent, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. In April, compliance at the doors to the coke oven -- the likely source of the smoke Soeder saw -- dropped to 13.5 percent. Compliance at the smoke stack fell to 40 percent.

The major pollutants spewing from the plant include hydrogen sulfide, benzene and particulates, said Suzie Brindle, program organizer for Clean Water Action, a nonprofit that has been monitoring the plant. In addition to smelling bad, the pollutants can aggravate asthma and other breathing problems and might cause cancer, she said.

Next month, the health department plans to hit Shenango Inc., which operates the plant, with a fine of significantly more than $33,400, the largest levied against the plant last year, said Jim Thompson, chief of the health department's enforcement and air-quality program.

The health department stepped up inspections and enforcement in April after fielding many citizen complaints about increased emissions from the plant, he said.

Inspectors discovered a large number of bad flues and other devices that were in disrepair at the plant, Thompson said. When the flues don't work and oven doors don't seal properly, harmful emissions are more likely.

Jim Birsic, Shenango's vice president of health, safety, environment and legal affairs, said the company is aware of the low compliance numbers and is working to correct them.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat the situation," he said. "We're working every day to try to solve it. We doubled capital expenditure for battery repairs."

The battery, which contains the ovens that heat coal into coke, might be in worse shape than usual because of a rough winter, Birsic said.

Several nonprofits and citizens groups, including Clean Water Action, the Neville Island Good Neighbor Committee and the Group Against Smog and Pollution have been regularly monitoring the plant for years.

Several members volunteer as certified visible emission evaluators, or "smoke readers," and watch for violations. Others use video cameras to document excessive emissions.

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