For decades, chemical companies used Toms River as their private dumping ground for their toxic waste. Then the town's residents started asking questions.
Pennsylvania’s environmental justice program was created before the state’s fracking boom began. So none of the state’s more than 10,000 shale gas wells were ever subject to it. Some environmentalists think it’s time that changes.
The EPA’s Environmental Justice office is meant to defend communities that face a disproportionate share of the effects of pollution. But the office’s funding could be cut entirely in President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal.
If you believe your health has been, or could be, impacted by industry pollution, one place to start is this organization. Staffed with doctors, nurses and public health scientists, the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project helps people and communities protect themselves.
According to a new study, about 35 percent of kids who live near sources of pollution in Allegheny County have asthma. The national asthma rate is about 8 percent. The pollution, and the asthma it causes, have far-reaching consequences in a child’s life.
What do you do when you worry that pollution from a local industrial plant is making people in your town sick, and you want to do something about it? It can help to talk to someone who has been down that road. The Allegheny Front connected people from two Allegheny County communities in different stages of this shared experience, and sat in on their conversation.