Dues-paying members, please vote by May 28, 2014! Learn more about the candidates here. Ready? Vote! [contact-form-7 404 "Not Found"] #candidates #gaspboard

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 8, 2014 Contact: John Baillie, Staff Attorney 412-924-0604 john@gasp-pgh.org Group Against Smog and Pollution Files Lawsuit against Shenango, Inc. Plant’s history of air quality violations makes air dangerous to breathe Pittsburgh, PA – Today, the Group Against Smog and Pollution (“GASP”) filed a citizens’ suit under the federal Clean Air Act in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Shenango, Incorporated (“Shenango”). GASP’s suit includes claims against Shenango based on violations of emissions standards and limitations that have occurred since late 2012 at Shenango’s Neville Island Coke Works. GASP seeks an order of court prohibiting Shenango from violating: Limitations on visible emissions (smoke) from door areas of Shenango’s coke ovens; Limitations on visible emissions from the combustion stack for Shenango’s battery of coke ovens; and Limitations on the sulfur content of the coke oven gas that Shenango flares, mixes, or combusts at the Neville Island Coke Works. Based on compliance reports that Shenango submitted to regulators between July 26, 2012, and September 30, 2013 (a 432-day period), GASP determined that Shenango violated limitations on visible emissions from the door ovens of its coke oven battery at least one time on thirty-nine separate days; violated limitations on visible emissions from the combustion stack for its battery of coke ovens at least one time on 264 separate days; and violated limitations on the sulfur content of its coke oven gas at least one time on twelve separate days. GASP’s suit follows a notice of intent to sue that GASP sent to Shenango (and federal, state, and county officials) on February 6, 2014. Recent government enforcement actions against Shenango, including one concluded by an April 7, 2014 Consent Order and Agreement between Shenango and Allegheny County, either did not address violations of these limitations or imposed measures on Shenango that failed to eliminate Shenango’s violations of the limitations. “The recent agreement between Shenango and the Allegheny County Health Department did not do enough to limit pollution from the coke oven doors or combustion stack,” said Rachel Filippini, Executive Director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution. “These are significant problems, and the longer they go unaddressed, the longer pollution from Shenango continues to make community members sick.” Coke oven emissions, created by Shenango when coal is processed into coke for use in steel making, are some of the most toxic of all air pollutants. These emissions include dangerous pollutants known to cause cancer, asthma, and lung damage. The violations addressed in GASP’s lawsuit have caused emissions of these harmful pollutants to increase. Preventing violations at the Neville Island Coke Works is particularly important given its location: the plant is less than one mile from residential communities along the Ohio River (including Avalon, Ben Avon, Bellevue, Emsworth, and Stowe Township), and is less than five miles from Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh. “No one should be forced to spend days indoors to protect himself from illegal emissions from Shenango as I have. Given how many people live close to this plant, they should be doing everything in their power to make sure it operates according to the law,” said Ted Popovich, a member of GASP’s board and Ben Avon resident. “It’s great to see GASP moving forward with legal action,” said Angela Garcia, a resident of Bellevue and mother to a son with asthma. “We need all of the problems at Shenango fixed to protect the health of our families.” Valessa Souter-Kline, Outreach Coordinator at PennFuture, added “We all deserve to breathe air that won’t make us sick. As long as Shenango continues to dump toxins into our air, citizens and environmental organizations will continue to work to hold them accountable. They cannot continue to profit at the community’s expense, while operating in violation of regional air quality standards.” GASP is a Pittsburgh-based environmental non-profit founded in 1969 and dedicated to improving air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania and surrounding regions. GASP’s work on this issue has been part of a collaborative effort between several groups to eliminate illegal pollution from Shenango’s Neville Island Coke Works. Participants in the effort include: individuals living near the Shenango facility, GASP, Clean Water Action, Women for a Healthy Environment, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, and Clean Air Council. ### Link to complaint filed May 8, 2014: http://gasp-pgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/Complaint-re-Shenango-05-08-14.pdf #Shenango #RachelFilippini #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #NevilleIslandCokeWorks #TedPopovich #airquality

Shenango, Inc. operates a coke manufacturing plant with a 56-oven coke battery on Neville Island in Allegheny County. Shenango manufactures coke by, essentially, baking the impurities out of coal, so that only nearly pure carbon remains. The coke it produces is used in blast furnaces to smelt iron ore. Based on Shenango’s repeated violations of emissions limits established by law and contained in its operating permits, GASP issued a notice of intent to sue Shenango under the federal Clean Air Act and the Allegheny County Health Department’s (“ACHD”) air pollution control regulations on February 6, 2014. GASP’s notice of intent to sue identified more than 300 days between July 26, 2012 and September 30, 2013 on which Shenango violated at least one applicable emission limitation. As required, GASP served copies of its notice on ACHD, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, among other government agencies and officials. On April 7, 2014, Allegheny County filed a Complaint against Shenango in the Court of Common Pleas for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The County’s Complaint sought a judgment that Shenango violated emissions limitations in its operating permit, as well as an order prohibiting Shenango from operating except in compliance with that permit and the applicable regulations and requiring Shenango to pay a penalty to the Allegheny County Health Department Clean Air Fund. Also on April 7, the County and Shenango entered into a Consent Order and Agreement that purports to settle the claims made in the County’s Complaint. Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christine Ward approved the Consent Order on the same day it was executed by Shenango and the County. What does the April 7 consent agreement require and what does it mean? The April 7 consent agreement generally requires Shenango to pay a fine, undertake an investigation, and make a number of changes to its plant and operating methods. Five of the consent agreement’s requirements particularly merit attention. First, the April 7 consent agreement requires Shenango to pay a civil penalty of $300,000 to the Allegheny County Health Department Clean Air Fund. Second, Shenango must complete repairs to its pushing emission control shed and install a shed extension to minimize the size of an existing opening between the plant’s quench tower and main shed. Third, the consent agreement requires Shenango to undertake a “Supplemental Environmental Project,” pursuant to which it must spend at least $285,000 and up to $300,000 to study other physical changes that could be made to the plant’s quench tower to enhance the tower’s ability to control emissions of particulate matter. If that study costs less than $285,000, Shenango is obligated to either spend the difference between $300,000 and the cost of the study on physical improvements to the quench tower or pay it to ACHD as an additional penalty. Fourth, the consent agreement requires Shenango to submit a “Baghouse Maintenance Plan” and “Charging Procedures Work Plan” to ACHD for approval. Following ACHD’s approval of those plans, Shenango must implement them. Fifth, the consent agreement will also force Shenango to maintain a minimum coking time, and increase that time following any rolling three-day period when, on the average, its rate of compliance with applicable limitations on visible emissions falls below 90%. The consent agreement also authorizes Shenango to reduce coking time following periods of three consecutive days when, on the average, its rate of compliance with applicable limitations on visible emissions exceeds 95%. In no event, however, may the coking time be reduced below 17 hours and 30 minutes. What does the April 7 consent agreement fail to do? First, the April 7 consent agreement fails to address at least three aspects of Shenango’s operations that have resulted in repeated violations of applicable emissions limitations. Specifically, the April 7 consent agreement does not require Shenango to implement any new measures to control: 1) visible emissions from its coke oven doors; 2) visible emissions from the combustion stack serving its coke oven battery; or 3) the sulfur content of its flared, mixed, or combusted coke oven gas. This is troubling, because the measures that were in place before April 7 have failed miserably to ensure Shenango’s compliance with applicable limitations on those emissions and limits. Between late July 2012 (when Shenango executed its last consent agreement concerning chronic emissions violations) and the end of September 2013 (the last time covered by compliance reports that GASP currently has), Shenango violated those limitations on at least 300 separate occasions. It would not be unreasonable to conclude that Shenango and ACHD have given up trying to comply with these limitations and are willing to allow violations to continue indefinitely. Second, the April 7 consent agreement fails to impose a fine on Shenango that approaches the maximum fine authorized by law. Although $300,000 is a substantial amount, it pales in comparison to the amount of penalty that ACHD’s regulations and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act authorized it to impose on Shenango: up to $25,000 per day of violations. Based on the approximately-300 days between July 26, 2012 and September 30, 2013 on which documented violations occurred, ACHD could have imposed on Shenango a penalty in excess of $7,500,000. Third, there is no requirement in the April 7 consent agreement that the required physical alterations and repairs to the plant yield emissions reductions or compliance with applicable emissions standards. Indeed, ACHD may be allowing Shenango to escape full liability for its violations of applicable emissions limitations in exchange for plant upkeep that Shenango would (or should) have performed absent the agreement. Fourth, the consent order does not require Shenango to alter its facility or undertake any operational changes that may be identified by the “Supplemental Environmental Project,” even if those alterations or changes might yield greatly increased compliance or other substantial environmental benefits. Fifth, the consent agreement does not specify what provisions the “Baghouse Maintenance Plan” and “Charging Procedures Work Plan” that Shenango is required to submit to ACHD must include in order to be approved by ACHD. Nor does the consent agreement explicitly require that the plans ultimately yield any actual emissions reductions after they are implemented. It is thus uncertain what, if any, benefits the consent agreement will yield in terms of increased compliance or emissions reductions. Finally, the April 7 consent agreement does not require Shenango to comply with applicable emissions limitations in the law and its current operating permit 100% of the time. Rather, Shenango is authorized to reduce coking times (to its benefit) when the rolling three-day average compliance percentage is as low as 95%. On April 30, representatives from the Allegheny County Health Department will attend a public meeting where they will present the merits of this agreement and what it means for air quality in the region. Please attend if, like us, you have questions about the strength of this agreement. Event details: Wednesday, April 30 6 to 7:30 PM Avalon Borough Building 640 California Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15202 –post by John Baillie, Staff Attorney #Shenango #JohnBaillie #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #CleanAirFund #ACHD #airquality #cokeovengas

Title: Public Meeting on Shenango Consent Agreement Location: Avalon Borough Building, 640 California Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15202 Description: The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has taken enforcement action against Shenango Coke Works. What’s in the agreement? What does it mean for the Pittsburgh region? Come here from Jayme Graham, the Manager of ACHD’s Air Quality Program, and Dean DeLuca, ACHD’s Enforcement Chief. Bring your questions! For more information, email Julie at jstjohn@cleanwater.org or call at 412.765.3053, x214. Start Time: 18:00 Date: 2014-04-30 End Time: 19:30 #Avalon #consentagreement #Shenango #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #AirQualityProgram #ACHD #airquality

We had to share this testimonial from a teacher participating in our EPA School Flag Program at Colfax Elementary. (Click here to see their press from the launch of the program, which helps teach children about and raise awareness of air quality.) “I wanted to pass along 2 pictures from Education Celebration last night. It’s an event that we have here in our school district where classes or grade levels can showcase things that they have been doing throughout the school year. Naturally, my decision to talk about our air quality project. I have 3 girls there to talk about the flag program and what they do each day to track the air quality. We also have all of our calendars from November until now so that the community could see the amount of green and yellow days that we have had. We have really embraced this project this year and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it. I had a lot of 4th-grade families stop by and the students were excited because it will be their project next year. We have a banner too on our fence that describes each of the flag colors. Weather depending, I might get that up today. If not I will get it up on Monday. That will help promote the meaning of the flag to the people in the community. I actually had a woman last night get out her phone and call someone and say, ‘I’m hearing them talk about the flag!’ She was really excited which in turn got my students very excited.” #airquality #ColfaxElementary #EPASchoolFlagProgram

In May of 2013, GASP appealed two nearly identical air permits issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the Forward Compressor Station and the Jefferson Compressor Station, both located in Butler County. We are pleased to announce that after lengthy negotiations, the parties recently reached a settlement agreement that resolves the issues raised in our appeals. These facilities are operated by Mountain Gathering, LLC. Each facility includes eight natural gas compressor engines, three process tanks, one flare, and one TEG dehydrator. GASP appealed these permits because it was not shown that emissions would be minimized as much as possible through the use of the best available technology, as required by law. Additionally, although numerical emission limits were included in the plan approval, there were no physical or operational limits to ensure that the emission limits are met, so the numerical limits were unenforceable. As a result of our appeal, Mountain Gathering will install more effective pollution controls to reduce carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and formaldehyde emissions from the compressor engines located at each facility. The revised plan approvals will also include specific conditions requiring the installation and use of these more effective controls. Additionally, the revised plan approvals include lower emission limits for formaldehyde and VOCs. These changes will reduce potential emissions of VOCs, an ozone precursor, by over 40 tons per year, and potential emissions of formaldehyde, a potent carcinogen, by over 8 tons per year. The settlement agreement was finalized on December 3, 2013, and GASP formally withdrew its appeal on December 13, 2013. A copy of the settlement agreement can be found here. #ForwardCompressorStation #JeffersonCompressorStation #VOCs #emissions #DEP #airquality

This past year, GASP continued its important work of fighting for better air quality in Southwestern Pennsylvania with tried-and-true methods as well as utilizing new, innovative strategies. Here are some highlights from our ongoing efforts: Marcellus Shale: With support from Colcom Foundation and YOU, we continue to keep close tabs on natural gas development. Our legal staff has spent much of the past year commenting on and appealing air quality permits related to this industry. These appeals have resulted in strengthened permits that reduce toxic air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, necessitate the use of best-available technology, and have made progress toward ensuring that sources of air pollution are aggregated when required by law. Clean Air Dash & Festival: With support from the Heinz Endowments’ Breathe Project, many community and business sponsors, and YOU, we were able to put on a successful 5K. This first-time event celebrated Pittsburgh’s progress in reducing air pollution and challenged all of us to continue our hard work towards better air quality. The event also highlighted our Athletes United for Healthy Air campaign (AU). AU educates athletes about air quality issues in the Pittsburgh region, gives them tools to minimize their exposure, and empowers them to champion for healthy air. This program increases air quality education and awareness among students, and has the potential to improve their health. Youth are disproportionately affected by poor air quality, due to their developing lungs, large lung-to-body weight ratio, and high level of exercise. In addition to the projects discussed above, we continue to advocate for the enforcement of Pittsburgh’s clean construction legislation, track potential changes to the County’s open burning regulation, and conduct educational presentations with students and community groups in the region. Your support is essential to continue all of these important air quality improvement efforts. Please start or renew your membership, or give an additional year-end donation today! Donations can be sent by check or given online by clicking here. Thank you and Happy Holidays! #airpollution #EPASchoolFlagProgram #AirQualityIndex #diesel #CleanConstruction #AirQualityProgram #MarcellusShale #dieselemissions #airquality

Autumn rings in many things—pumpkin pie, beautifully-colored fall leaves, celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, and the smell of wood smoke in the air. While a fire may be delightfully warm and cozy for you, it could be creating a hazardous environment for your neighbor that will have him feeling not so warm and fuzzy about you. GASP asks homeowners to think about the implications of burning wood. If you live in a city neighborhood, chances are the homes are relatively close together, and the smoke from your chimney could be entering your neighbor’s home. While wood smoke may seem benign when compared to air pollution created by vehicles and factories, it is quite toxic. Wood smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and fine particles produced when wood and other organic matter burn. Carbon monoxide, benzene, dioxin, phenols, aldehydes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides are released when wood is burned. Many of these components are found in cigarette smoke. Exposure to wood smoke has been associated with reduced lung function, exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, middle ear infections, and cancer. Children and infants, pregnant women, and those with cardiovascular or respiratory disease are especially vulnerable. According to the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Healthy Environments and Communities’ (CHEC) Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis (PRETA) Report on particulate matter (PM), the second-most common source of PM2.5 in Allegheny County is residential fuel consumption for heating. CHEC says, “Interestingly, burning of wood (fireplaces, wood stoves, etc.) contributes the vast majority of this source (1,600 tons) compared with less than 20 tons from the use of gas or oil heat.” In addition to the deleterious air pollution you are creating when lighting up the fireplace, you may actually be robbing your house of heat, because a draft is created which pulls the heated air inside your home up the chimney. GASP recommends that you consider alternatives other than wood burning, such as weatherization and insulation to reduce household heating costs. You might think that the air pollution regulations in Allegheny County only affect industrial sources, but in fact, homeowners are also prohibited from allowing foul odors to leave their property. In addition, smoke emissions can not exceed an opacity of 20% for more than three minutes in any sixty minute period, or exceed an opacity of 60% at any time. If your smoke is thicker than that, you are in violation of the County’s Visible Emissions Regulation. If you smell malodors or see excessive smoke you should call the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) at 412-687-2243 each and every time. ACHD has acknowledged that wood smoke is a large contributor to received complaints. Roughly one-third are about wood burning. ACHD has recently taken up their open burning regulation for revisions—stay tuned here for updates. And Happy, toxic-free Thanksgiving! Rachel Filippini, Executive Director #airpollution #CarbonMonoxide #particlepollution #UniversityofPittsburghsCenterforHealthyEnvironmentsandCommunities

For Immediate Release November 21, 2013 Media Contact: Tom Hoffman | Clean Water Action 412.765.3053 ext. 202 | tomhoffman@cleanwater.org REPORT: HAZARDOUS AIR TOXIC LEVELS RAISE SOUTHWESTERN PA TO TOP OF NATION’S WORST Regional coalition of nonprofits issue common-sense recommendations for region in light of report findings PITTSBURGH, Pa.– The Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC) at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health recently released its Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis (PRETA), which seeks to educate about environmental quality and human health risks of significance to the southwestern Pennsylvania community. Air toxics are the focus of the third edition, and major findings in the report conclude that residents of southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly those living in Allegheny County, have a significantly higher than acceptable risk of developing cancer due to exposure to air toxics. In fact, Allegheny County ranks 63rd out of 3,225 U.S. counties in terms of cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants, placing it in the top 2 percent nationally. The highest overall rate of cancer risk in the region from total hazardous air pollutants is found in West Elizabeth where residents are 20 times more likely to develop cancer from that air pollution than those living in other areas surrounding Allegheny County. A coalition of nonprofits in the region, including Clean Air Council, Clean Water Action, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), PennFuture, Sustainable Pittsburgh and Women for a Healthy Environment, issued the following statements and recommendations in response to the report: “Our region cannot afford to have its economic turnaround story tainted by the stigma of lingering air quality woes,” concluded Court Gould, executive director, Sustainable Pittsburgh. “We need to redouble efforts to educate, measure, and make changes to reduce cancer risks from air pollution,” continued Gould. “While being in the top 2% of most things is impressive, unfortunately for residents of Pennsylvania’s second-most populous county, being in the top 2% for cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants is unacceptable and local and state officials must do more to protect citizens, ” explained Joe Minott, executive director of the Clean Air Council. “In the last few years, we have seen many reports like this one. A typical response from policymakers is to ignore the reports – or even worse – discredit them. We desperately need leaders who will not only acknowledge the problems but act on them,” said Tom Hoffman, western Pennsylvania director, Clean Water Action. “After visiting West Elizabeth on a recent trip and seeing firsthand the ugly and real health consequences of living in the highest cancer rate census tract, we can’t afford not to act.” The coalition is asking the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), City of Pittsburgh, and other regional officials to implement the following recommendations in light of report findings and share the resulting information with the community: Implement and enforce Pittsburgh’s Clean Construction Law, which requires publicly-funded development projects in the City of Pittsburgh to reduce diesel emissions from their project’s construction vehicles, and encourage eligible contractors working in the City of Pittsburgh to apply for the Small Construction Contractors Retrofit Program to assist them in paying for emission-reduction technologies. Enforce rigorous application of Allegheny County’s updated Air Toxics Guidelines to all quality permits for facilities connected to hydraulic fracturing. Ensure the Allegheny County Health Department’s upcoming SO2 State Implementation Plan includes strong control measures for coke ovens. Attend a special Sustainable Development Academy briefing program in mid-2014 for the region’s County Executives, Commissioners, and Mayors of large municipal governments and of the highest cancer risk localities to inform public officials of the PRETA report’s findings that the region ranks in the highest percentiles for air quality cancer risk and that there are helpful recommendations for reducing these threats to public health. “The PRETA report shows that a variety of hazardous air pollutants foul our region’s air, but diesel vehicle pollution stands out as an obvious target of high priority—especially for the city of Pittsburgh,” said Rachel Filippini, GASP’s executive director. “We have many tools to reduce diesel pollution, but some are unfortunately not being enforced.” “Though our region has made great strides in improving air quality, we still have far to go,” said Tiffany Hickman, western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture. “In addition to strong executive and regulatory leadership on the issue, we as individuals can help to keep the air we breathe cleaner by reducing our energy consumption and switching to a clean energy provider for the home and business.” “We urge citizens to get involved with local environmental groups that are working to reduce exposure to these harmful air pollutants,” said Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, executive director, Women for a Healthy Environment. “The findings in the PRETA report present an opportunity for the citizens of southwestern Pennsylvania to raise their voice and advocate for change to improve our health and our region.” Click here to read the full report. ### #airpollution #airpollutants #airtoxics #CleanConstruction #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #cancerrisk #airquality

Brought to Pittsburgh with the support of The Breathe Project, the Clean Air Dash and Festival is a 5K race, a 1-mile Fun Run/Walk, and a Festival all-in-one, all on the South Side sliver of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The gorgeous trail threads its way through trees along the banks of the Monongahela River, under several bridges, and directly on top of historic mill sites. It’s mostly flat, certified by USATF, and as fast as you want. You could keep going all the way to Washington, D.C., since the trail system between here and there is now complete, but we’ll only time you for the 5K! Staggered starts and chipped bibs mean you start when you want. Run with your friends, or wait for a lull so you can sprint all by your lonesome. Run fast enough and we’ll slow-clap for you at the awards ceremony—and give you a gift card to New Balance Pittsburgh so you can keep on kicking! Promenade along the muddy Mon in our 1-mile Fun Run/Walk while you await your friend or family member’s triumphant finish. Bring Fido and let him go nuts in the new off-leash dog park on the Festival’s grounds. Does anyone actually have a dog named Fido? Where did this come from? Show me your Fido and his nametag and you get a free hamburger or other hand-crafted grub slung from some of Pittsburgh’s new darling food trucks. And when it’s all over, you’ll be in the heart of what’s arguably Pittsburgh’s most vibrant neighborhood, with great shopping from lowbrow to boutique, live music both in venues and on the sidewalks, and amazing food choices like Cambodian, Thai, fusion tacos, and frusion Pan-Asiatic mélange brunch. OK, now I’m just making stuff up. But really, the restaurants are great! The park can be reached by several bus routes, or you can walk or bike in from along the trail. Our free bike valet parking, borrowed from Bike Pittsburgh, makes cycling to the event worry-free. Auto parking at the site will be severely limited, so please use the parking lots at both ends of the trail or the parking spots all through the South Side. And please pass this flyer around: http://gasp-pgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Clean-Air-Dash-flyer.pdf Not convinced? Check out a sneak peek of our course below: On Twitter? Follow us @GASPPgh and @athletesforair on Twitter to get the latest news on this event and all kinds of air quality and sustainability happenings in the Burgh. Search #cleanairdash to see what everyone else is saying about the Dash. What’s left? REGISTER! http://beta.active.com/pittsburgh-pa/running/clean-air-dash-and-festival-2013 Registration ends October 18th at noon, so don’t delay. See you on October 19th! #AthletesUnitedforHealthyAir #CleanAirDash #dogpark