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Blog Against Smog

Feb 20, 2020

GASP Urges ACHD to Apply for EPA Grant Funding for Air Toxics Monitoring

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now accepting applications from state, local, and tribal air agencies for grant funding to assist them in conducting air quality monitoring projects of hazardous air pollutants (also called air toxics). Given that Allegheny County residents in several communities live and work uncomfortably close to known sources of air toxics, GASP is calling on the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to pursue funding through this prog

Feb 13, 2020

What You Need to Know About the Community Trust Established by the U.S. Steel, ACHD Settlement

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Monday made public its finalized settlement agreement with U.S. Steel, giving residents the first look at details of an associated $2.46 million community trust. The nine-page document, dated Jan. 30, clarifies several details related to the trust, the communities it benefits, who will serve on a board overseeing it, and how meetings will be conducted and projects selected for funding. GASP in July submitted formal comments reg

Feb 10, 2020

Allegheny Co. Health Department Announces It’s Finalized Emissions Settlement with U.S. Steel

This story was updated to include more links to news articles related to the settlement agreement. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) in a press release Monday announced that it has finalized the settlement agreement and order with U.S. Steel that was issued in June of 2019. The announcement comes more than six months after ACHD held a public hearing to receive comments on the settlement—a hearing at which GASP and myriad other environmental organizations and resid

Jan 23, 2020

Watchdog Report: GASP Submits Formal Comments on PPG Industries, Bellefield Boiler Permits

This week, GASP Senior Attorney John Baillie submitted comments on pending RACT (Reasonably Available Control Technology) and Title V operating permits for two industrial operators: PPG Industries, Inc. in Springdale, and the Bellefield Boiler Plant in Oakland. By way of background, ACHD’s regulations define “Reasonably Available Control Technology” to mean “any pollution control equipment, process modifications, operating and maintenance standards, or other apparatus or tech

Jan 21, 2020

Consent Order Between Allegheny Co. Health Dept., Harsco & ATI Calls for Enclosed Building, Fine

A Natrona-based slag processor will pay a more than $107,000 civil penalty and construct a new building to enclose processing thanks to a consent order and agreement with the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). The agreement between the department, Harsco Corporation, and ATI Flat Rolled Products was finalized Jan. 7 and addresses ongoing complaints from residents of nearby Opal Court who said that fugitive dust from the slag processing facility could be found on their

Jan 21, 2020

Transparency Watch: ACHD Now Posting Air Quality Program Enforcement Orders to Website

An Allegheny County Health Department spokesman on Tuesday confirmed that ACHD is now posting to its website enforcement orders from its Air Quality Program. The move was first announced by ACHD Deputy Director of Environmental Health Jim Kelly at the Jan. 10 Board of Health meeting. Prior to the documents being posted publicly, residents needed to submit a formal Right to Know request to obtain them. GASP appreciates the additional transparency regarding these Air Quality Pr

Jan 17, 2020

UPDATED: ACHD Announces More Than $743K in New Fines Against U.S. Steel

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) announced in a press release Friday that it has issued fines against U.S. Steel for Article XXI Air Pollution Control violations and permit violations. The violations occurred at the Clairton Coke Works during the second and third quarters of 2019. ACHD has assessed $743,625 in stipulated penalties. Ninety percent (90 percent) of penalties ($669,262.50) will be paid to the Community Benefit Trust for impacted communities while the

Jan 10, 2020

GASP Joins Enviro Groups, Residents to Demand ACHD Action on Coke Oven Regs, Ongoing Emissions

The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) joined environmental groups and droves of residents Friday to send a clear message to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) that it needs to take action to strengthen coke oven regulations and take steps to hold U.S. Steel and other polluters accountable when industrial emissions and weather events such as inversions combine, tanking local air quality. About 100 people attended the rally held at the Pittsburgh City-County Bu

Jan 6, 2020

Same as It Ever Was: Killer Inversion in Pittsburgh Prompted Us to Call for Tighter Regs in '76, Too

U.S. Steel/Pittsburgh, 1970 The subject of atmospheric inversions—and the role they play in air pollution events that threaten public health—has been the focus of much attention recently. Late last month, a prolonged inversion prevented air pollution from dissipating, resulting in local air quality exceeding the federal air quality standard for fine particulate matter six days in a row. During that same period, the region’s air quality exceeded the Pennsylvania state standard

Dec 27, 2019

Thursday Marked 6 Days of PM2.5, 7 Days of H2S Exceedances at ACHD's Air Quality Monitor in Liberty

In addition to spiked levels of fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide (SO2) was also elevated, hitting 71 ppb Thursday night, just shy of a NAAQS exceedance. That’s not all: Thursday marked seven days in a row that the Liberty monitor exceeded the 0.005 ppm 24-hour hydrogen sulfide (H2S) standard. For those who may not have been following the story: A strong weather inversion this week helped trap air pollutants closer to the ground, helping to spur the spike at the Liberty

Dec 26, 2019

About Liberty-Clairton’s Bad Air Days…And How U.S. Steel Could Be a Better Neighbor If It Wanted To

The cause? A strong weather inversion, one that also helped trap air pollutants closer to the ground, prompting a spike in fine particulate matter (also known as PM2.5). The Liberty-Clairton area appeared several times on the list of areas in the United States with the worst air quality index. It wasn’t unexpected: The inversion and poor air quality it helped create prompted the Allegheny County Health Department to issue a special public statement warning the public of the h

Dec 23, 2019

U.S. Steel Fined More Than $10K for Failed Stack Test

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Monday issued an Allegheny Alert regarding an enforcement order against U.S. Steel – one that called for a fine of $10,560 to be levied. The Allegheny Alert read: ACHD issued an enforcement order against U.S. Steel on March 25, 2019, due to a failed stack test at the Clairton Coke Works that occurred in November of 2018. Battery 13’s combustion stack exceeded the limit for particulate matter (PM2.5) outlined in its permit. The

Dec 20, 2019

Allegheny County Health Department Takes Two SO2 Monitors Offline

Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) officials announced that they took two temporary air quality monitors installed in Clairton and West Mifflin to measure sulfur dioxide levels offline. The department announced the following in an Allegheny Alert issued Friday afternoon: After a fire at the Clairton Coke Works on Dec. 24, 2018, ACHD’s air quality program installed temporary monitors in Clairton and West Mifflin to measure Sulfur dioxide levels (SO2) while the plant’s p

Dec 10, 2019

UPDATED: PA Court Approves Preliminary $8.5 Million Settlement Between U.S. Steel, Local Residents

A Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas judge has preliminarily approved an $8.5 million settlement between U.S. Steel and local residents who filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the company’s emissions were a nuisance, amounted to trespass, and were the result of negligent upkeep of the company’s Clairton Coke facility. Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint claimed, “noxious odors and air particulates invading Plaintiffs’ property are indecent and offensive to the senses, and obstruc

Dec 5, 2019

Annual Air Quality Reports Issued by Allegheny County Health Department, DEP

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently released new details regarding the state of air quality both locally and statewide. ACHD’s 2018 Air Quality Report was posted to the department’s website last month. The 48-page report can be read in its entirety here. At the state level, it was announced this week that the DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee will meet Dec. 12 in Harrisburg to fi

Nov 22, 2019

Transparency Watch: More Data, Stricter Regulations Needed to Reduce Benzene Exposure in Mon Valley

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its decision to list benzene as a hazardous air pollutant under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act on June 8, 1977, based on reports “strongly suggest(ing) an increased incidence of leukemia in humans exposed to benzene.” Despite more than 40 years of regulations and research highlighting the danger of exposure to benzene, EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory data show U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke facility was still able to emit over 30

Nov 8, 2019

Environmental Groups Implore County Council to Better Fund Air Quality Program

The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) and other local environmental groups this week called on Allegheny County Council to do what it can to better fund the health department’s Air Quality Program. “Our fear is that critical services the Air Quality Program provide – particularly those regarding expertise and enforcement on a local and community level – are not being funded adequately,” GASP staff attorney Ned Mulcahy said in public comments before Council Wednesday. Th

Oct 17, 2019

Mt. Lebanon Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Illegally Dumping Asbestos, Violating Clean Air Act

A Mt. Lebanon business owner on Oct. 10 pleaded guilty to illegally dumping asbestos-containing waste generated during the renovation of the former George Westinghouse Research and Technology Park in Churchill Borough. Vikas Jain, 47, chief executive at Paradigm Consultants, was charged Sept. 27 with one count of knowingly violating work practice standards of the Clean Air Act in the wake of an investigation by the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency. “As western Pennsylv

Oct 16, 2019

GASP Appeals Eastman Chemical Installation Permit Issued by Allegheny County Health Dept.

Media Contact Amanda Gillooly Communications Manager Group Against Smog and Pollution amanda@gasp-pgh.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GASP Appeals Eastman Chemical Installation Permit Issued by Allegheny County Health Dept. PITTSBURGH – The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) on Friday formally appealed an installation permit issued by the Allegheny County Health Department for the Water White Poly Process Unit at Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc.’s plant in Jefferson Hills Borough

Aug 27, 2019

Join GASP in Telling ACHD: Enough with the Rotten Egg Odor—It’s Time to Meet the H2S Standard!

Girl covers nose with hand showing that something stinks isolated on gray background Sad but true: Waking up in the middle of the night to the odor of rotten eggs isn’t that uncommon in Allegheny County—especially downwind of the Mon Valley. For those who aren’t aware: That tell-tale rotten egg smell is characteristic of malodorous hydrogen sulfide (more commonly referred to as H2S) and is perceptible by most people event at very low concentrations. The H2S odor is so unpleas

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