Full Episode

This week on The Allegheny Front, Pennsylvania goes old-school to prevent forest fires while controlled burns on game lands create habitat for a threatened songbird. The UN warns of mass extinction, a new study says the Ohio River has more fish and Three Mile Island nuclear plant will close in September.

This week on The Allegheny Front, prosecutors in Pennsylvania are looking into possible environmental crimes committed during the fracking boom. New technology aims to recycle flexible plastic like candy wrappers. Pa. commits to goals in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Plus, the latest on the Clairton Coke Works, Pa. nuclear bailout and oil/gas waste.

This week on The Allegheny Front, we talk with local researchers about a fungus that's devastating frog populations across the globe and its impact locally. A citizen science project enlists nature lovers, including kids, to head to their local ponds to gather data on frogs. Plus, how the past might help us act more boldly on climate change. An update on a state investigation into a rare cancer.

This week on The Allegheny Front, stories about the air we breathe: neighbors of an industrial coke plant say a recent fire there has made air pollution worse in their community; a new book looks at air pollution from a global perspective. Plus, the story of a Pittsburgh environmental group that started in the 1960s with a guerrilla marketing campaign and outrage over smoky skies.

This week on The Allegheny Front, surveying Pittsburgh's rivers to see if a salamander is bouncing back, in hopes that an endangered mussel can make a comeback, too. The story of how one school teacher saved a swampy patch of suburb for salamanders. A planned gas storage hub meets resistance and utility companies look to a younger generation.

This week on The Allegheny Front, Japan bets on hydrogen-fueled vehicles, but will consumers buy them? We talk with a reporter who found "chaos" when she went to New Mexico to see how the government is managing drilling on public lands. DEP is investigating well water contamination from fracking in suburbs. Plus, the fast food industry embraces the vegan burger that bleeds.

This week on The Allegheny Front, we look back at the Three Mile Island nuclear accident on this 40th anniversary. We'll hear from residents who still live near the nuclear power station and consider the consequences if the struggling plant, and others like it in Pennsylvania, are powered down. Plus an investigation of a rare cancer in one community.

This week on The Allegheny Front, some communities are dropping glass from residential recycling programs. The 40th anniversary of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island has some taking another look at thyroid cancer rates in Pennsylvania. And critics of the Green New Deal say health care and jobs are great, but cutting carbon takes precedence.

Carnegie Mellon researchers designed robots to help clean up the Three Mile Island accident. That was just the beginning. We talk with the local high school student who organized Pittsburgh's Youth Climate Strike. Meanwhile, a carbon-free society will need a skilled workforce. News about abandoned gas wells, controlling the spotted lanternfly and Clairton Coke Works.

This week on The Allegheny Front, a study shows coal ash is contaminating groundwater. Gov. Wolf's proposal to move environmental funds draws criticism. A cheaper way to capture carbon. Pittsburgh gets federal recognition as the start of the Lewis and Clark trek. Plus, two retirees find friendship in birdwatching.