Full Episode

The fast pace of data center development has caught many communities off guard. Environmental organizers are trying to help them find their voices. A study released in February finds that energy generated in Pennsylvania will be used for data centers out of state. US Steel’s new owner scored near the bottom in a climate ranking for steel companies. A new study tries to take smoking out of the equation for lung cancer risk. The results were surprising for areas with poor air quality. Allergy season is starting earlier because of climate change. We also talk with the author of a bird guide that's for enthusiasts and beginners alike.

Pennsylvania regulators are deciding whether to give Shell’s ethane cracker a new air pollution permit. Some residents say the plant is making the air there worse. An environmental group wants a moratorium on data center development in the state until stricter laws can be passed. A recently proposed settlement in a central Pennsylvania electric utility rate case aims to protect average residential customers from rising rates connected to new data centers. A Lackawanna County commissioner wants to protect residents’ air quality from data centers that often use diesel-powered backup generators. A look at Pittsburgh's deer managementt program, three years in. Why turkey vultures are environmental heroes.

According to a new study by state regulators water that runs off of landfills which take fracking waste doesn't pose a threat to the public. Severe storms or drought caused by climate change affect not only farmers but many others in the local food system, like rstaurants. Rock hunting gives a woman in addiction recovery a new way to see the world. The Allegheny County board of health is looking at how it can reduce the impacts of fracking. A group of Pittsburgh high school students is raising money to plug abandoned oil and gas wells.

A new initiative called Prepare PA is gearing up to help Pennsylvanians face the big challenges of the climate crisis, like more extreme weather and flooding. And 2026 is the International Year of the Woman Farmer. Women farmers in Pennsylvania talk about the growing diversity in agriculture. A sustainable farming group had a $59 million federal contract reinstated after the federal government tried to claw it back last year. A state House committee is advancing measures meant to protect Pennsylvanians from negative effects of new data centers. The Allegheny Land Trust has partnered with the Pittsburgh Penguins and a Pittsburgh-based natural gas company to purchase local forest carbon credits. Pennsylvania agencies will collaborate on recommendations for wildlife corridors. 

Young people in Pittsburgh are practicing climate action close to home. An oil and gas company let over a million gallons of drilling fluid escape underground into an abandoned mine during pipeline construction in Washington County. Pennsylvania agencies are teaming up with a nonprofit to study ways to modernize the electric grid. An invasive species came to North America just when the United States was forming. Why Thomas Jefferson was obsessed with the Hessian fly.

Safe drinking water is not a reality for many Americans. Residents of an Ohio town say their water tastes and smells bad, and leaves an oily sheen. But regulators say it's safe. Monarch butterflies and other species are waiting for official listing as the Fish and Wildlife Service makes changes to the Endangered Species Act. In towns where residents oppose building big data centers, zoning has become a way to control the narrative.

How last year's fatal blast at the Clairton Coke Works has impacted the community there. A new study shows how many deaths can be attributed to air pollution in the Pittsburgh region. Opposition to data centers is growing as dozens of the facilities are proposed for the region and they could impact the water supply. State agriculture officials are trying to stem a spike in avian flu cases among Pennsylvania poultry flocks. Ski ballet is no longer an Olympic sport, but it's an art still being practiced on the slopes.

How the Trump adminstration's move to rescind the the scientific basis for regulating greenhouse gases could impact states' climate initiatives. High levels of PFAS, known as forever chemicals, are being released into streams surrounding the Pittsburgh Internatiuonal Airport. The Conestoga in Lancaster County is Pennsylvania’s River of the Year.

Council members in an Ohio town were concerned when a company planned to store fracking wastewater deep underground near their source of drinking water. The industry says stopping the operation would be government overreach. Why some impacted by the East Palestine train derailment still haven’t been compensated almost two years after a settlement with the railway company. A new symptom tracker for East Palestine residents is helping researchers document health changes stemming from the derailment. Federal regulators will no longer consider the economic costs of harm to human health when regulating certain air pollutants.

Numerous health studies are ongoing following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio 3 years ago. When conventional oil and gas operators in Ohio started seeing fracking wastewater come up through their wells, they knew there was a bigger problem. January is national Radon Action Month, and that means it's time to test your home for the radioactive gas.