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.
Clairton sits in the shadow of US Steel's massive Clairton Coke Works. There's a growing concern among residents that the plant's emissions are causing asthma and cancer. But can a town prove that pollution is causing its health problems?
A research team at Carnegie Mellon is one year into a three-year project to help people in the Pittsburgh region learn more about pollutants they’re exposed to through the air. It’s funded through the EPA’s Air Pollution Monitoring for Communities program, and it was one of only six projects funded throughout the country.
In the 1960s, Pittsburgh's horrible air earned it the nickname ‘Hell with the lid off.' But a group of housewives, doctors and engineers with a knack for guerrilla marketing helped clear the air.
The Allegheny County Health Department has been so late in keeping up on its paperwork for air quality permits that three environmental groups are asking the U.S. EPA to get involved.
Even with big improvements to air quality over the past few decades, it's hard to describe Pittsburgh's march toward cleaner air as anything but a slog. So what's taking so long?
Yet another reason to visit your local library: You can now check out this cool $200 gizmo that will tell you how good (or bad) the air is in your home.
