An Ohio company is doing all it can to halt coke plant development in Cambria County.

Monday at 5:00 pm was the deadline for comments on a coke plant being built in Cambria County. Officials say all comment was positive until Thursday when the Department of Environmental Protection received a negative comment about air quality from someone in Ohio.

Ron Repak of the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority says, "It was kind of suspicious in the fact that they're concerned about Pennsylvania air, but not Ohio, It just didn't make sense."

Officials soon realized it's an attempt to sabotage the coke plant opening, possibly at the old Mine 33 site, by a German company looking to build in Ohio.

Repak says, "We later learned was actually a consultant for the contractor that wants to build a coke plant in that area which would obviously be competition. We want our plant to get online sooner than theirs of course."

Ron Repak says he's not surprised this happened because the new coke plant is almost a $400 million investment.

Repak says, In making those investments, the steel industry essentially booming now, so I can understand why the competition would be fierce and some of these things take place.

The Sun Coke company, who's behind the coke plant in Cambria County, won't comment on the situation, but dozens of e-mails have already been sent to counter the Ohio letter.