On their terms: residents combat poor air quality to #CleanUpClairton

Although regulatory agencies are required to protect public health by enforcing federal air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we find that in reality that may not always be the case. 

For example, 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, residents of the City of Clairton are questioning whether a recent settlement with the largest coke producer in North America will protect public health.

"We've seen the consent agreements between U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works and the health department over the past several years that I have lived here, and, frankly, the air quality has not changed," said Clairton resident, Pat Jones. "We are skeptical." 

With the lack of community trust that regulatory agencies are creating a path toward a healthier, livable environment, residents are taking matters into their own hands. We outline some ways community members in and around the City of Clairton are combatting poor air quality on their own terms.

Smoke School

Recently, Eastern Technical Associates (ETA) offered a free Visible Emissions Certification program, or "smoke school." This type of program is required by the EPA in order for an individual to be recognized as a qualified observer of stationary emissions sources, like U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works. 

The class took place at Settlers Cabin Park on an early Tuesday morning. ETA brought their smoke machine and demonstrated the various different opacity levels from both black and white smoke emissions. Each participant would fill in estimated opacity levels on a zero to 100 scale for each round of testing. The test is harder than it looks - most participants went through three rounds before passing the test. 

Chris Harper, an electrical engineer from Edgewood, has been a certified smoke reader for a couple years. He uses his certification to be a citizen watchdog over Clairton Coke Works, because he says the pollution plumes affect his community. 

Harper also publishes an online air quality dashboard for others to see what is going on throughout the region. 

Speck Monitors

Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab is using technology to foster citizen engagement in air quality. Through spinoff, Airviz, knowing what is in the air you breathe is as easy as borrowing a book from your local library. 

This month, Airviz donated 10 Specks - monitors that detect particulates in homes and workplaces - to the Clairton Public Library. 

Odessa Ellis, children's services coordinator for the library, said she is very excited about having the Specks and plans to incorporate them into children's programs and hopes parents will check them out for home use. 

Clairton Public Library's Odessa Ellis, Freda Montgomery, and Audrey Minarcik show off the library's new Speck sensors.

Clairton School District, Southside Human Resource Community Center, and a locally owned and operated Clairton daycare center have already adopted Specks.

Student Activism 

As community groups and residents in the Mon Valley area are working toward monitoring the air quality, younger residents are contributing to spreading awareness of the issue. With a large percentage of Clairton students having asthma, air quality is a major concern for them. 

High school students of Stay Positive Clairton, a project of Youth Opportunites Development, are learning to spread the word of about air quality in their neighborhood. Partnering with environmental groups like PennFuture and PennEnvironment, they are preparing to gather signatures for a petition to the Allegheny County Health Department during community events like basketball games as well as door-to-door canvassing. 

Stay Positive Clairton's program director, Brandon Ziat, says that the petition is a great leadership opportunity for kids to build leadership skills and shape their community. 

"Every day when I drive to work with the kids, I see the plant. Air pollution is a constant worry and it's great to know that something is being done about it and kids can get involved," added Ziat. 

Do you suspect poor air quality in your area? 

We want to hear your story. 

Annie Regan is the western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @MsAnnieRegan. 

Let's clean up Cheswick Power Plant and our air

Photo of Cheswick Power Plant from the author's home

On April 2, 2015, community members met in Springdale, Pa. along with PennFuture partner organizations including Sierra Club, GASP and Women for a Healthy Environment to discuss the impact that pollution from the Cheswick Power Plant has made on the local community and the county. NRG Energy, one of the largest owners of coal burning power plants in the United States, owns the Cheswick plant. In 2013, the plant was the largest major point source of air pollution in Allegheny County.

Major point source pollution makes a major impact on a community. In 2010, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Cheswick’s mortality rate was 87 percent over the national average with diseases linked to air pollution such as cardiovascular disease, COPD, and asthma. Allegheny County has some of the highest rates for asthma in the states and a growing number of cases in children. 

Allegheny County currently violates federal safeguards for particulate and smog standards of the Clean Air Act.The Cheswick Power Plant is a source of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide in the county. In 2013, the plant accounted for half of the nitrogen oxide pollution in the county and was the third largest contributor of fine particles. Upgrades at the plant to limit emissions have helped but Cheswick continues to rank among the highest polluters in the county.Though not a violation, the plant's sulfur output has almost tripled between 2013 and 2014, a worrisome trend. 

There are limits to the amount of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide that a power plant can emit. To meet those limits, plants can install and run pollution control technology or, in some cases, purchase credits to pollute. Currently, Cheswick’s permit allows the facility to emit unhealthy smog-forming pollution (NOx) at a rate that exceeds the capacity of the technology installed to control that pollution. Worse yet, the plant does not consistently run the pollution control technology that is installed onsite. This has contributed to the region’s ongoing elevated smog levels, which continue to violate federal safeguards. 

The Title V permit for the Cheswick Power Plant expires at the end of 2015. These permits are required under the Clean Air Act to establish pollution limits for large emission sources. Environmental groups in the region are reaching out to the Allegheny County Health Department to strengthen the polluting limits of the plant. The permit will be drafted this summer and meetings will be held to collect public input. If you'd like to get involved, email Valessa Souter-Kline (souter-kline[at]pennfuture.org) or add your name to Sierra Club's email campaign to clean up the Cheswick Power Plant.

Guest post by Courtney Mahronich, Project Coordinator for the Trail Town Program and PennFuture volunteer extraordinaire. Courtney lives near the Cheswick Power Plant.

Speak up: ACHD is in process of updating open burning rules

Particulate matter, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)  are just a few of the unhealthy pollutants found in the smoke drifting off of our campfires and out of our wood-stoves. That list goes on for three pages and, to a camper and marshmallow roaster like me, is wholly discouraging. 

No one wants to see that the warm, fuzzy scene evoked by cozy gatherings around a fire pit may not paint the whole picture. The good news: Taking a minute to understand the risks won't take away your favorite fall pastime altogether. 

While campfires always release pollution, there are ways to make them better -- and make them better we must. Wood burning, indoors and out, is on the rise and the health impacts are significant. According to the American Lung Association: "Besides particle pollution, wood burning also produces carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and even toxic air pollution. Studies have found that wood smoke leads to coughing and shortness of breath, decreases in lung function, and aggravated asthma and may even cause cancer." 

In many parts of Pennsylvania, where our air routinely receives a failing grade from the American Lung Association and our kids suffer from higher-than-average rates of asthma, burning wood (or, even worse, illegally burning leaves, debris and trash) exacerbates the problem. 

Allegheny County currently bans wood burning only on bad air days. The problem with enforcement is, do you know what today's air quality level is? It matters what you burn, how you burn it -- and when. 

While we prepare to testify at a hearing in support of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed clean power rule (join us!) and fight to bring big air polluters into compliance with air quality regulations, let's not lose sight of the air closest to home -- in our back yards -- and make sure we aren't part of the problem.

In Allegheny County, the Health Department is in the process of updating its open burning regulations. Now is your chance to speak up in favor of clean air. You can submit public comments through Monday July 7. As they are currently written, the regulations allow for only clean, dry wood to be burned, which will help cut down on smoke and particulate matter but will not eliminate the problem altogether. 

PennFuture recommends that in addition to working to reduce pollution from open burning in Allegheny County, more education needs to take place to connect the dots between the air we breathe and our health. Our cities, in particular, struggle to keep particle pollution within a safe range, especially on hot summer days. If you’re considering building a fire outdoors, check the air quality index first to make sure you’re not making a bad day even worse.

Valessa Souter-Kline is PennFuture's western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @ValessaSK.