In late October, leaders in the coking industry gathered in Pittsburgh for a multi-day conference. Environmental groups showed up as well, reminding the industry of the harm to their toxic emissions and petitioning them to use this gathering as an opportunity to share ways to reduce their air pollution. Below is a transcript of the comments given by our Executive Director. Good morning. My name is Rachel Filippini and I’m the Director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution. For nearly five decades GASP has worked to improve air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania. This week attendees of the Met Coke World summit are meeting to address opportunities for and challenges to their industry. I sincerely hope they will use this as an opportunity to tackle the air pollution they emit, which is a critical issue for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh ranks as one of the top 10 most polluted cities in the nation with regard to short- and long-term particle pollution—particles which increase the risk of heart and lung disease, adverse birth outcomes, cancer, and premature death. Air pollution from coke-making includes these particles, as well as benzene, a known carcinogen. These pollutants and others affect neighboring communities’ health and quality of life. Coke making is a large contributor to our air pollution problems and must be addressed in a serious and considerable way for us to truly make a difference in regional air quality. This summit is a chance for leaders and experts in the coke and steel making industry to critically analyze and address the air pollution they emit and to discuss technologies and work practices that can be used to drastically cut emissions and improve health, as well as local air quality. One facility of particular concern is the DTE Shenango Coke Works on Neville Island. Every quarter we check their compliance with a number of permit limitations. Shenango has violated the applicable limitation on the sulfur content of their coke oven gas twenty times in the second quarter of 2015. They also violated combustion stack opacity standards many times in this same time frame. These violations should have been corrected via consent agreements between the company and the Allegheny County Health Department. Unfortunately, the consent agreements are not correcting all the problems and appear to just be a band aid, not a long-lasting solution. Pittsburgh’s poor air quality harms our quality of life and makes people sick. It makes our region less attractive for businesses and residents to locate here. The Met Coke World Summit conveners should focus not only on the coke and steel making industry’s health and vitality, but the health and vitality of the communities in which they operate and how to reduce the toxic pollution they create. See the press release from the “play-in” event held by coalition partners nearby here. #coke #airpollution #Shenango #ShenangoCokeWorks #RachelFilippini #MetCokeWorld #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #airquality

This is our report on Shenango, Inc.’s compliance data from the third quarter of 2015. We review Shenango’s data every quarter to check its compliance with four limitations: a limitation on the sulfur content of Shenango’s coke oven gas; a limitation on visible emissions (in other words, smoke) from Shenango’s coke oven doors; a limitation on density of the visible emissions from Shenango’s battery combustion stack which prohibits visible emissions with opacity greater than or equal to 60%; and another limitation on visible emissions from Shenango’s battery combustion stack which prohibits visible emissions with opacity greater than or equal to 20% for more than three minutes during any one-hour period. Opacity is a measure of smoke’s density; smoke with an opacity of 60% blocks 60% of the light that would otherwise pass through it. Shenango violated the applicable limitation on the sulfur content of its coke oven gas three times in the third quarter of 2015. The number of violations in the third quarter is down from the 20 violations that occurred in the second quarter of 2015, but is greater than the one violation that occurred in the third quarter of 2014. Shenango must operate its battery of coke ovens so that smoke does not leak from more than five percent of its coke oven doors that are both in operation at a given time and not obscured from an inspector’s view. Shenango’s Title V Operating Permit requires it to inspect its door emissions at least once a day and is also subject to random inspections performed by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). Shenango’s inspectors detected three violations of the 5% door standard in the third quarter of 2015. In contrast, the Health Department’s inspectors appear to have found twenty violations of that standard during the same time period, despite conducting fewer inspections. By way of further comparison, Shenango’s inspectors found no violations of this standard in both the second quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2014, while ACHD’s inspectors appear to have detected thirteen violations of this standard in the second quarter of 2015 and five violations in the third quarter of 2014. In the third quarter of 2015, Shenango violated the 60% combustion stack opacity standard 11 times; Shenango violated that standard ten times in the second quarter of 2015 and thirteen times in the third quarter of 2014. Shenango violated the 20% combustion stack opacity standard 204 times in the third quarter of 2015; Shenango violated that standard 168 times in the second quarter of 2015, and 204 times in the third quarter of 2014. The graphs that follow show that Shenango’s violations of the 20% and 60% combustion standards have continued at an increasing rate despite government enforcement actions in 2012 and 2014 that purportedly were designed to reduce those violations. The black diagonal line in each graph is a trend line generated by Microsoft Excel: #TitleV #Shenango #ShenangoCokeWorks #permit #violations

This is our latest report on Shenango, Inc.’s quarterly compliance data, covering newly-available data from the second quarter of 2015. We review Shenango’s data every quarter to check its compliance with: a limitation on the sulfur content of Shenango’s coke oven gas a limitation on visible emissions (in other words, smoke) from Shenango’s coke oven doors a limitation on density of the visible emissions from Shenango’s battery combustion stack which prohibits visible emissions with opacity greater than 60% and another limitation on visible emissions from Shenango’s battery combustion stack which prohibits visible emissions with opacity greater than 20% for more than three minutes during any one-hour period. Opacity is a measure of smoke’s density; smoke with an opacity of 60% blocks 60% of the light that would otherwise pass through it. Shenango violated the applicable limitation on the sulfur content of its coke oven gas 20 times in the second quarter of 2015. The number of violations in the second quarter is down from the 29 violations that occurred in the first quarter of 2015, but is greater than the 14 violations that occurred in the second quarter of 2014. Shenango must operate its battery of coke ovens so that smoke does not leak from more than five percent of its coke oven doors that are both in operation at a given time and not obscured from an inspector’s view. Shenango’s Title V Operating Permit requires it to inspect its door emissions at least once a day, and it is also subject to random inspections performed by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). Shenango’s inspectors detected no violations of the 5% door standard in the second quarter of 2015. In contrast, the Health Department’s inspectors appear to have found thirteen violations of that standard during the same time period, despite conducting fewer inspections. By way of further comparison, Shenango’s inspectors found no violations of this standard in the first quarter of 2015 and one violation in the second quarter of 2014, and ACHD’s inspectors found three violations of this standard in the first quarter of 2015 and one violation in the second quarter of 2014. In the second quarter of 2015, Shenango violated the 60% combustion stack opacity standard ten times; Shenango violated that standard six times in the first quarter of 2015 and eight times in the second quarter of 2014. Shenango violated the 20% combustion stack opacity standard 168 times in the second quarter of 2015; Shenango violated that standard seventy-four times in the first quarter of 2015, and 125 times in the second quarter of 2014. The graphs that follow show that Shenango’s violations of the 20% and 60% combustion standards have continued at an increasing rate despite government enforcement actions in 2012 and 2014 that purportedly were designed to reduce those violations. The black diagonal line in each graph is a trend line generated by Microsoft Excel: #airpollution #Shenango #ShenangoCokeWorks #DTE #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #airquality

She currently serves as the Acting Lead of CDC’s Healthy Community Design Initiative, National Center for Environmental Health. She’ll present on her research interests including the intersection between physical activity and air pollution exposure, health effects of traffic-related air pollution, and role of the built environment and community design on population health, including physical activity levels, obesity, air pollution exposure, and respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Thursday, September 24 5-8 p.m. (Networking/refreshments 5-6 p.m; presentation begins at 6 p.m.) Allegheny General Hospital, Magovern Conference Center 320 East North Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Free and open to all but registration is required Continuing Medical Education credits available Our other speaker is Dr. Albert Presto, Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He investigates the contributions of primary and secondary air pollution with ambient measurements, laboratory experiments, testing of pollution sources, and atmospheric modeling. Dr. Presto will discuss regional air quality issues and his collaboration with medical professionals to develop detailed studies of pollutant exposure on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis and to better understand the relationships between pollutant emissions and adverse health effects. Care for our air quality? Then see you there! #airpollution #makingtheconnection #AlleghenyGeneralHospital #DrAlbertPresto #airquality

Date: Saturday, August 22nd Time: 4-7 p.m. Location: “Maren’s house” in Squirrel Hill (exact location will be given upon RSVP) Recent research conducted by Dr. Talbott and her team found an association between fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and increased risk of childhood autism. Based on the child’s exposure to concentrations of PM2.5 during the mother’s pregnancy and the first two years of life, the Pitt Public Health team found that children who fell into higher exposure groups were at an approximate 1.5-fold greater risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) after accounting for other factors associated with the child’s risk for ASD. A previous Pitt Public Health analysis of the study population revealed an association between ASD and increased levels of air pollution. “Air pollution levels have been declining since the 1990s. However, we know that pockets of increased levels of air pollution remain throughout our region and other areas,” said Dr. Talbott. “Our study builds on previous work in other regions showing that pollution exposures may be involved in ASD. Going forward, I would like to see studies that explore the biological mechanisms that may underlie this association.” GASP and Aviva Diamond of Moms Clean Air Force will also present. Learn more about the salons here, and register for the event here. #PM25 #PittPublicHealth #airpollution #makingtheconnection #DrEvelynTalbott #airquality

We last checked Shenango, Inc.’s compliance with its limitations on the sulfur content of its coke oven gas, the visible emissions from the door areas of its coke ovens, and the visible emissions from its battery combustion stack in a blog post on March 27, 2015. We just obtained compliance data for the first quarter of 2015 from the Allegheny County Health Department, (ACHD) so it’s time to check again. Unfortunately, Shenango’s compliance with these limitations has taken a turn for the worse so far in 2015. First, after reporting no violations of the limitation on the sulfur content of its coke oven gas during the fourth quarter of 2014, Shenango reported twenty-nine such violations in the first quarter of 2015, with twenty-one of those violations occurring during the month of March. Second, Shenango itself reported no violations of a limitation that prohibits visible emissions from more than five percent of the coke oven doors during the first quarter of 2015. However, ACHD’s inspectors observed three violations of that limitation during the first quarter. Third, Shenango continues to violate both applicable limitations on visible emissions from its battery combustion stack–the limitation that prohibits emissions that have 20% or more opacity for more than three minutes in any one-hour period, and the limitation that prohibits emissions that have 60% or more opacity at any time. Shenango violated the 20% standard seventy-four times during the first quarter of 2015, and the 60% standard six times. The graphs below show that Shenango’s violations of those limitations have continued at an increasing rate in recent years despite government enforcement actions in 2012 and 2014. The black diagonal lines in the graphs are trend lines that we generated using Microsoft Excel: You can view video of some of the facility and its emissions here. GASP filed a citizen suit against Shenango under the Clean Air Act to enforce these standards in May 2014 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. GASP is currently appealing the dismissal of its claims in that suit to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. –John Baillie, Staff Attorney #airpollution #Shenango #JohnBaillie #ShenangoCokeWorks #emissions #combustionstack #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #violations #ACHD #ThirdCircuit

GASP recently spent a week with the Pittsburgh Gifted Center to talk about school bus idling. Students learned about the health concerns related to diesel emissions and Pennsylvania’s no idling law, and they provided fact sheets and rewards to their drivers. By educating the students and drivers about the importance of not idling, we’re better protecting the health of not only the students, but also the entire community through improved air quality. Diesel exhaust poses a significant health risk as it can pass through the nose and throat and lodge in the lungs or enter the bloodstream, leading to increased risk for asthma attacks, lung infections, heart attack, stroke, and cancer. It can also impair the immune and nervous systems, ultimately stunting growth. Exhaust fumes from school buses can enter buildings through open windows or doors and even pollute the air inside the buses. Idling creates worse emissions than driving because idling engines emit higher levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. In Pennsylvania, with a few exceptions, school buses are not permitted to idle more than five minutes during a one-hour period. GASP’s idling educational program is available to schools in cooperation with the Green & Healthy Schools Academy Green Apple Season of Service, which engages schools and communities to increase environmental awareness through service-learning project opportunities. Projects should be conducted from September 28 to November 27, 2015. To educate your school about idling or get a head start on planning, contact Jessica Tedrow at jessica@gasp-pgh.org. Read about our recent diesel work in the news: “Cleaning the Air One School Bus at a Time.” #NoIdleLaw #airpollution #schoolbus #diesel #emissions #dieselemissions #airquality

In working to reduce emissions from the McConway and Torley (M&T) facility in Lawrenceville, GASP’s objective has always been to advocate for healthy air and safeguard public health. For several years now M&T has been on our radar. In 2011, GASP and M&T entered into an agreement aimed at lowering emissions from the plant, with the goal of making the air everyone in the community breathes a little cleaner. In the settlement M&T agreed to additional emission controls over and above those required by the Environmental Protection Agency or Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), including a more effective collection hood on the existing furnace and new, better filters on the furnace bag houses. Disappointingly, those emissions controls did not reduce pollution as significantly as we would have expected. The recent release of the American Lung Association’s annual ‘State of the Air’ report showed that we still have some of the worst air pollution in the nation. That air pollution is generated from many sources, both stationary and mobile. The M&T facility is one source of regional air pollution–thus they must be part of the solution. The ACHD’s recent release of a draft operating permit for the facility has provided the community, GASP, and others an opportunity to both raise concerns and address the air pollution from the facility in a comprehensive way. The health department’s action reflects an important truth: the foundry is emitting pollutants into the air we breathe every day, and all of us–from those who own the facility, to the health department, to Lawrenceville citizens–have to come together to find a solution. Whether improved air quality is achieved through additional emissions controls or production limits is up to the company and ACHD. Our goal is simple: to ensure the health of the community is protected. Instead of creating conflict among its neighbors in Lawrenceville, M&T should focus on making rail couplings and bringing its operations into line with air quality rules. We know a lot more about health impacts from air pollution and what kind of pollutants facilities emit than we did in the 1800s, when the company first began operating. We know now for instance that air pollution from steel melting, mold-making, and casting at M&T includes particulate matter, benzene, manganese, and other toxic pollutants that contribute to foul odors and make people sick: Manganese is a neurotoxin, and excessive exposure can cause cognitive impairment, mood disturbances, and impaired memory, balance, and coordination. Benzene is a carcinogen for which there is no known safe exposure level. Particulate matter can cause or exacerbate asthma and lead to premature death in individuals with heart and lung disease. We know that based on 2013 reported actual emissions, compared to other stationary air pollution sources in Allegheny County, M&T was the 3rd largest source of benzene and the 3rd largest source of manganese. In the same year that our settlement agreement was initiated back in 2011, ACHD began a special study in response to public concern about local exposure to toxic metals potentially being released into the community by M&T. In addition to chromium and lead, a monitor located on the facility’s fence line has been recording manganese for the last four years. Manganese concentration levels during this time are 53 percent higher than recommended levels from the EPA. That’s something that should concern all of us. We have urged the ACHD to require continued and expanded air quality monitoring along the foundry’s fence line. It is critical that the health department, the company, and Lawrenceville residents have a way to know if changes at the plant result in any improvement to air quality or if the emissions are worsening. Poor air quality puts everyone at risk–from the workers in the foundry to the parents and grandparents raising their families here, to the small business owners. Our goal is improved air quality and a healthier community where everybody can thrive. ACHD has indicated that it is waiting on the results from stack tests at the facility and will likely put out another draft permit. This will provide the community with another opportunity to make comments. Stay tuned! #Lawrenceville #benzene #airpollution #McConwayandTorley #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #airquality #manganese

The McConway & Torley facility in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood is a steel foundry that produces railcar couplings. Activities at the plant include steel melting, mold-making, and casting. Air pollution from these activities includes particulate matter, benzene, manganese, and other pollutants which not only are likely causing or contributing to foul odors but are harming public health. Particulate matter can cause or exacerbate asthma and lead to premature death in individuals with heart and lung disease. Benzene is a carcinogen for which there is no known safe exposure level. Manganese is a neurotoxin, and excessive manganese exposure can cause cognitive impairment, mood disturbances, and impaired memory, balance, and coordination. On April 14, 2015, the Allegheny County Health Department (“ACHD”) Air Quality Program will hold a public hearing on their draft operating permit for this facility to take comments from the public. Please come to and speak at the hearing or write to ACHD to ask them to protect people who live and work in Lawrenceville and beyond from air pollution from McConway & Torley’s plant. McConway and Torley Public Hearing Tuesday, April 14, 6 p.m. First Floor Conference Room Building 7, Clack Health Center 301 39th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201 [To register to speak at the hearing, call (412) 578-8103 no later than 4 p.m. on Monday, April 13. Bring printed copies of your testimony to submit at the hearing. Spoken comments are limited to three minutes. ACHD will also accept written comments on the proposed permit. Submit comments to ACHD at address above or by e-mail at aqpermits@achd.net. Comments must be submitted on or before Tuesday, April 14, 2015.] The concerns about emissions from McConway & Torley are not new. In 2010, ACHD was preparing to allow the company to reactivate an electric arc furnace. As part of this process, ACHD performed air dispersion modeling that indicated that manganese concentrations beyond the facility fence line exceeded the “IRIS” value, which is the long-term health-based exposure level developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). As a result, ACHD installed an air pollution monitor at the fence line. In addition, McConway & Torley agreed to install more effective pollution controls as part of a settlement agreement with GASP. The fence line monitor has now operated for nearly four years. Average manganese concentrations at the monitor continue to exceed the USEPA IRIS level. Further, there has been no appreciable improvement in monitored manganese concentrations over the course of the nearly four-year monitoring. From 4/30/11 to 12/19/14, the manganese concentration has averaged 57% higher than the IRIS level, with short-term spikes even higher. [See the monitor results here.] Not only have manganese levels proven to be a concern, but many other facility emissions likely have been underestimated. In the past, ACHD had allowed facilities to reduce calculated emissions of certain pollutants if those pollutants were released inside a building. The assumption was that the building itself would contain and control those emissions to some extent. In 2014 ACHD reexamined that procedure, and in its own words, found the procedure “to have no technical basis to reference.” In its operating permit application, McConway & Torley had applied a 50% building control reduction to its emission calculations for releases within the facility. Consistent with the revised policy, the Department removed the 50% building reduction and corrected several other emissions underestimations in McConway & Torley’s application. Based on the revised calculations and McConway & Torley’s current allowable production levels, the facility would be regulated as a “major source” of air pollution under the Clean Air Act. In order for the plant to remain eligible for the minor source operating permit for which it had applied, ACHD reduced McConway & Torley’s allowed production levels to 21,250 tons of steel melted per year. This limit will result in a substantial reduction in emissions from the facility. For many years, McConway & Torley has benefited from incorrect emission calculation assumptions. ACHD has taken a strong step to protect public health by correcting its own mistaken assumptions. McConway & Torley has already appealed ACHD’s change in policy because it wants to continue to operate at its current production level without investing in additional measures to reduce emissions. If you are concerned about this, you have an opportunity to make your voice heard. Come to the public hearing or write to ACHD to urge it to stick to its guns and protect people who live and work in Lawrenceville and beyond. McConway & Torley must either operate according to ACHD’s draft permit with corrected emissions estimates and production limits or invest in better pollution controls for its plant, and ACHD must continue to monitor pollution levels at its fence line to make sure the facility’s emissions do not create excessive air pollution in Lawrenceville and nearby communities. #Lawrenceville #airpollution #McConwayampTorley #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #airquality #manganese

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) Air Quality Program recently announced its intent to issue an operating permit for the McConway and Torley steel foundry located on 48th Street in Lawrenceville. This facility is a significant local source of air pollution that has prompted numerous odor and noise complaints from Lawrenceville residents. ACHD’s air permitting process provides an opportunity to reduce emissions from the McConway & Torley facility and improve air quality in Lawrenceville. On March 16th, GASP will hold a public meeting to discuss air quality in Lawrenceville and how members of the public can participate in the permit development process. Learn more about the permit and what you can do by attending this community meeting. DATE: Monday, March 16 TIME: 6-8 p.m. LOCATION: Stephen Foster Community Center, 286 Main Street, Lawrenceville, PA 15201 Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to jamin@gasp-pgh.org or 412-924-0604 #Lawrenceville #airpollution #permit #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #airquality