A recently released report commissioned by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection calls the Erie Coke Site "...a potential threat to human health and the environment."

Consulting firms OBG and Michael Baker International compiled the report, detailing their findings from groundwater and soil sampling across the former coke production facility.

Among their findings are unsafe levels of benzene in half of the groundwater samples, "criteria exceedances" arsenic and vanadium in dozens of soil samples and a conclusion that, "contaminated waste material was periodically dumped over/along the bluff above the Lake Erie shoreline contributing the elevated SVOC and metals concentration in shoreline sediments and adversely affecting the water (and sediment) quality of Lake Erie."

The report calls for additional testing, trying to determine how deeply some toxic materials have permeated the soil and water, pointing to samples that show elevated benzene levels 13 feet below ground and coal tar 9 feet below ground.

Local advocacy group Hold Erie Coke Accountable released this letter Tuesday, calling for increased transparency and community input, telling leaders they have an obligation to not only explain any findings to community members but to make them stakeholders in decisions about the site.