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Blog Against Smog

Feb 10, 2021

One Year Later: What We Know About How the U.S. Steel Community Trust Money is Being Spent

The $2.7 million trust benefits five Mon Valley communities – Clairton, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, and Port Vue, and is governed by a Community Advisory Panel composed of one representative from each of those municipalities. The Panel must meet regularly – at least once every six months – and is empowered to consider and approve funding for community improvement projects proposed by the municipalities. While the trust was a result of repeated air quality violations at U.S.

Feb 8, 2021

Advisory Committee Votes to Table Episodic Weather Regs, Health Department Says It Might Take it to

Draft episodic weather regulations long-sought by residents and air quality advocates could be sent out for public comment as soon as March 3, despite a committee vote Monday night. After about an hour of discussion, Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Advisory Committee voted unanimously to table the regulations, sending the draft back to the regulation subcommittee for more specifics. For inquiring minds who want to know: The next regulation subcommittee is scheduled t

Jan 29, 2021

GASP: Allegheny County Renewable Energy Agreement A Positive Step for Local Sustainability

Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald this week announced an investment in locally-generated clean energy, with Allegheny County entering into a 35-year agreement with Boston-based Rye Development to purchase renewable energy generated by a low-impact hydropower facility. Rye, which also has an office in Pittsburgh, will construct the facility on the Ohio River. In a press release Fitzgerald said for each year the agreement is in effect, Allegheny County will offset emissions equiv

Jan 26, 2021

GASP Legal Review Leads to Stronger Air Quality Permit for Lawrenceville-Based Pressure Chemical Co.

The Allegheny County Health Department’s notice last week of air quality permits open for comment and issued in final form listed a final operating permit for Pressure Chemical Co., “to include Subpart VVVVVV language.” We’ll guess few of you are familiar with “Subpart VVVVVV,” how it might affect Pressure Chemical, or why it matters. But at GASP, those six V’s marked a small victory and the end to an issue that began almost two years ago. In explaining why GASP was happy to

Jan 19, 2021

Deadline to Speak Out on Proposed Coke Oven Regulations Quickly Approaching

Editor’s Note: The public comment period for Allegheny County’s draft coke oven regulations closed as of 4 p.m. Jan. 21. Time is running out to weigh in on proposed revisions to Allegheny County’s coke oven regulations – rules the health department hopes will reduce certain air pollutants emanating from U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works as well as clarify inspection procedures. As Mon Valley residents know all too well, emissions from coke ovens have been a primary source of o

Oct 12, 2020

PHOTOS: Understanding Emissions Points, Operations at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant

GASP has been vocal in demanding transparency regarding when and how the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will force U.S. Steel to get its Edgar Thomson Plant back into compliance with local and federal air quality regulations. While the public is STILL waiting for an update on a compliance plan promised way back in 2017, those living near the facility continue to deal with smoke, dust, and malodors emanating from Edgar Thoms

Oct 7, 2020

ACHD Air Pollution Advisory Committee: Board of Health Should Approve Coke Oven Reg Revisions to Pub

After a lengthy and sometimes contentious back-and-forth discussion, the Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Advisory Committee on Monday voted 5-4 to recommend that the Board of Health send revisions to its coke oven gas regulations out for public comment. GASP Executive Director Rachel Filippini serves on the committee and was among the yes votes. While some members of the advisory committee who have industry or U.S. Steel ties suggested that the two parties meet again

Oct 6, 2020

Good News: EPA Now Accepting Applications for Rebates Program to Replace Dirty Diesel Buses

“School buses travel over four billion miles each year, providing the safest transportation to and from school for more than 25 million American children every day,” the EPA website explains. “However, diesel exhaust from these buses has a negative impact on human health, especially for children, who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed.” The office is now accepting applications nationwide for rebates to assist in replacing olde

Sep 3, 2020

Allegheny County Board of Health Greenlights $340K Air Toxics Study, Additional H2S Monitoring

The Allegheny County Board of Health on Wednesday approved several Clean Air Fund requests, including a $340,544 proposal for a comprehensive air toxics study in the Mon Valley that would assess health risks to the community. The request from the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) would include both passive and active air quality monitoring, as well as the addition of 10 portable hydrogen sulfide (H2S) monitors. Officials have said the mobile H2S monitors will allow th

Aug 27, 2020

CA Citizen’s Suit Settlement Puts Pressure on PA to Implement Air Pollution Control on VOC Emissions

A proposed consent decree that would settle a federal citizen’s suit filed in California regarding control emissions of volatile organic compounds from oil and gas industry sources could have an impact right here in Pennsylvania. That’s because the decree, published Aug. 21, would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to find that Pennsylvania failed to submit proposed revisions to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) required by the Clean Air Act regarding the cont

Aug 27, 2020

GASP Delivers Widely-Supported Petition to ACHD Demanding Public Update on Emissions Issues at U.S.

Media Contact: Amanda Gillooly GASP Communications Manager amanda@gasp-pgh.org/ 412-924-0604 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GASP Delivers Widely-Supported Petition to ACHD Demanding Public Update on Emissions Issues at U.S. Steel Facility Signed by nearly 600 residents & 16 local organizations, it asks for an update on a compliance plan for the Edgar Thomson plant promised back in 2017. PITTSBURGH – The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) today delivered a petition to the Alleghen

Aug 20, 2020

Air Pollution Violations Lead to a $6K Penalty for ATI, Harsco Following Dust Complaints

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on Aug. 11 issued a demand for stipulated penalties in the amount of $6,000 to ATI Flat Rolled Products and Harsco Corp. following residents’ complaints about dust on their cars that emanated from the nearby Natrona-based slag processing operations. The demand indicated that Brackenridge-based ATI (a specialty steel manufacturer) and Harsco (which processes slag from ATI) violated the county’s Air Pollution Control regulations fou

Aug 18, 2020

ACHD Issues $1,755 Civil Penalty Against Pittsburgh Cremation Services

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) on June 8 filed an enforcement order against Pittsburgh Cremation Services for failing to submit an application to renew its minor source operating permit. Minor source operating permits are valid for five years. Pittsburgh Cremation Services permit expired more than two years ago – May 30, 2018. The enforcement order also indicates that the company failed to submit required semi-annual reports. ACHD noted in the enforcement order

Aug 17, 2020

Cheswick Generating Station Assessed $32K Civil Penalty for Emissions Issues

Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has assessed a $32,280 civil penalty against GenOn Power Midwest, LP, for 13 exceedances of a daily emissions limit at its Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale. The facility – the last remaining coal-fired electric generating plant in Allegheny County – is prohibited from emitting more than 3,176 pounds-per-hour of sulfur dioxide (SO2) on a daily average basis. But between Jan. 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, GenOn exceeded its SO2

Aug 13, 2020

Allegheny County Health Department Issues Enforcement Order to U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant Over

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has issued an enforcement order against U.S. Steel for opacity violations at its Edgar Thomson facility. The enforcement order, which is dated June 1, was posted to the ACHD website today, Aug. 13, and addresses two instances — one on Oct. 24, 2019, and the other on April 23 of this year –when visible emissions exceeded applicable limits. The county’s air quality regulations prohibit the opacity of visible emissions from a flue or

Aug 11, 2020

In the Face of Poor Air Quality, Allegheny County Health Department (AGAIN) Gives Far Too Much Credi

When air quality was downright awful for more than a week during the festive season this past December, ACHD was quick to point out that a prolonged atmospheric inversion was the culprit. Technically speaking, an inversion will inhibit pollution from dispersing into the wider atmosphere, but make no mistake: An inversion will only concentrate pollutants, not create them. The polluters were the problem, not Mother Nature. Over the past month, ground-level ozone has exceeded fe

Aug 5, 2020

Recent Air Quality Standard Amendment Will Further Limit Mercury Emissions at U.S. Steel Facility

U.S. Steel’s Braddock-based Edgar Thomson Works is one of 11 integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities in the country to be subject to amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) that were finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These amendments didn’t just come out of the blue: Section 112 of the Clean Air Act directs the EPA to categorize sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and develop NESHAPs

Aug 4, 2020

Join GASP for a Free Presentation Addressing the Emissions You See in Your Community (and What to Do

Have you ever seen a cloud of smoke or dust in the air that appears to be coming from an industrial facility or construction site and thought to yourself, “That can’t be good…Is that even legal?” If so, welcome to the club. That combination of concern and curiosity led to local residents forming GASP more than 50 years ago. In fact, some of the same techniques developed in the 1970s to assess airborne emissions are still used today. If you would like to know more about how to

Jul 28, 2020

Clothes & Climate Change: How a Fashion Choice Change Could Lead to Better Air Quality

The cost of being cute is far more than the price tag on that piece of clothing you’ve had your eye on. There’s also an air pollution price to pay. In the United States, the number of garments purchased by Americans has tripled since the 1970s. Globally, more than 80 billion items of clothing are purchased each year – the majority of which will be thrown in the trash. All that waste adds up: The World Resources Institute estimates that the so-called “fast fashion” industry an

Jul 21, 2020

Watchdog Report: Lower Emission Limits Could Be Coming Soon to a Coal-Fired Power Plant Near You

Lower emission limits could be coming soon to local coal-fired plants thanks to an Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) recommendation that the Environmental Protection Agency require daily limits on oxides of nitrogen on electricity generating units in Pennsylvania. The recommendation applies to coal-fired plants equipped with selective or non-selective catalytic reduction units (known as SCR and NSCR, respectively). For those who are unfamiliar: SCR and NSCR units control NOx e

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