That’s why the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) petitioned the EPA to reject the air quality permit The EPA’s decision to grant our objections has provided an opportunity for residents to voice their views

That’s because there’s nothing in the document to require the EPA and/or ACHD to provide the public with “We believe EPA and ACHD need to do better moving forward to ensure residents who have a right to know Steel must pay a $1.5 million fine to be split evenly between the EPA and ACHD – and we have concerns We’re not aware of ACHD, EPA, or U.S.

Ever heard of the Plastics Collaborative? Because the group recently published a robust white paper containing a series of policy recommendations for Southwestern Pennsylvania communities around the issue of single-use plastics and we wanted to be sure you saw it. After a year of research that included interviewing governmental representatives and experts around the country who had experience in implementing single-use plastic reduction policies, the Policy Working Group of the Collaborative recommends three targets for policy initiatives to curb single-use plastics in the region: plastic bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene. “We’ve developed these recommendations with a specific lens focused on the characteristics of southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Lydia Morin, Co-Chair of the Policy Working Group and Executive Director of CONNECT, one of the organizations engaged in the Collaborative. “With over 530 municipalities in our region, each community has the opportunity to explore and identify solutions that work best for their residents and businesses. These recommendations provide a starting point for policy-makers, residents, and businesses to join together on workable solutions.” Single-use plastic refers to plastic materials such as take-out containers, straws, bottles, and packaging that are meant to be used once and then become waste or litter. Once thought of as the height of convenience, the issues these materials have caused globally and in Southwestern Pennsylvania are expensive and increasingly harmful to the ecosystem, animals, and ourselves. A report from the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish (by weight). Yep, let that sink in for a minute. But wait, there’s more: According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 36 million tons of plastic were generated in 2018 but less than 9 percent was recycled. The rest ends up as litter or gets sent to landfills or incinerators where it will release microplastics over time that can get carried by wind or rain into the environment. The following policy recommendations are intended to both create progress and serve as a stepping stone to further initiatives to reduce the use of single-use plastic in the region. Regarding Plastic Bags Consider a ban on thin plastic film bags with the following joint action: Levy a fee on available disposable bags of at least 12 cents (study recommended 10 cents adjusted for inflation). Impose guidelines on available disposable bags to address their environmental footprint. For example, require bags to be composed of a certain amount of recyclable material. Work to improve infrastructure to recycle available disposable bags. Address unintended consequences of plastic bag bans such as alternatives people will turn to for secondary use such as trash bags composed of even more plastics. Consider and create a plan to combat the higher demand for paper and other sorts of disposable bags which will also have an impact on the environment and mitigate the increased burden on vulnerable populations. Include a messaging plan to encourage the habitual use of reusable bags to meet and exceed their threshold of environmental benefit. Regarding Plastic Straws Implement a policy that bans the use of plastic straws, cutlery and utensils and makes the alternative option request only. Include equity and accessibility exemptions in plastic straw legislation and ensure that appropriate partners are brought to the table to discuss the policy through an equitable lens. Incorporate public environmental education on the importance of lowering plastic use and more specifically plastic straw use to ensure efficacy. Include other materials that can be regulated in the same manner as plastic straws such as plastic cutlery and other plastic utensils in legislation to increase impact. Regarding Polystyrene Implement a ban on expanded polystyrene (EPS) at restaurants, retailers and grocery stores that prohibits the distribution of EPS packaging and food service ware as well as single-use EPS coolers, and other single-use plastic food service utensils such as straws, cutlery and more. Include an instrument that gives businesses time and, in necessary cases, funds to acclimate to the ban, paying close attention to the needs of small businesses. Implement a strong enforcement plan to ensure the success of the policy. Why the big deal about this stuff? Unlike other waste, plastic will never truly break down. While something like a banana peel will biodegrade and return to the earth, plastic waste merely breaks into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics. These microscopic fragments of plastics have been found globally in our food systems and even our own bodies. In a study conducted by PennEnvironment on the presence of plastic in Pennsylvania waterways, microplastics were found at every site they tested. These sites include the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, as well as smaller bodies such as Chartiers, Turtle, and Sewickley creeks and Nine Mile Run in Allegheny County. Plastic was also found in the Youghiogheny River, Fayette County, and the Connoquenessing Creek, Beaver County. “The problem of single-use plastic pollution should not fall solely to the individual who just by going through daily life is presented with single-use plastics on a consistent basis,” said Morin. “There are better ways to reduce the harmful effects of single-use plastic pollution and we can do that through policy change.” Movement is also happening around the concept of a circular economy here in Southwestern PA. Increasingly organizations and businesses are exploring–and demonstrating–how to move from a “linear” economy, in which raw materials are extracted, made into a product, used, and discarded, to an economy in which waste and pollution are designed out of the products. A “circular” economy is built on reusing, repairing, and remanufacturing products, and returning biodegradable materials to the earth. Regeneration and less harm underpin this strategy. GASP lauded the white paper and its recommendations. “We hope local leaders will take these recommendations seriously and get to work creating policies that help stave off single-use plastic products in their communities,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said.

A 113-page Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report published in November dissected one of America Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): One of the fixes? Reducing and preventing food waste. The EPA has a great FAQ on composting on its website, too. P.S. airpollution #greenhousegases #foodwaste #EcotoneRenewables #composting #EarthWeek #emissions #412FoodRescue #EPA

These amendments didn’t just come out of the blue: Section 112 of the Clean Air Act directs the EPA to Here’s how it works procedurally: Within eight years of the promulgation of a NESHAP, EPA must review The EPA must also determine whether the emissions allowed under the NESHAPs still pose an unacceptable EPA – that determined such exemptions violate the Clean Air Act. airpollution #USSteel #JohnBaillie #EdgarThomsonWorks #emissions #CleanAirAct #TitleVPermit #NESHAPs #Mercury #EPA

A federal district court in California on Tuesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Center for Environmental Health challenging the EPA Along with Pittsburgh, the areas where the EPA has failed to make sure proper air pollution plans are The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to identify and set national ambient air-quality standards and make The EPA’s own updated scientific studies show a link between sulfur oxides and asthma.

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has published a proposed revision to its air quality regulations that will impose a new set of “Reasonably Available Control Technology” (RACT) requirements on major sources of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Allegheny County. Why? Good question: New RACT rules are required under the Clean Air Act every time the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone is revised. NOx and VOCs are regulated under the Clean Air Act because they contribute significantly to the formation of ground-level ozone. Because this is the third time new RACT rules have been required, they are referred to as “RACT III.” Most if not all major sources of air pollution in Allegheny County will be subject to the new rules. This includes: Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal; Bellefield Boiler; Sunoco Pittsburgh Terminal; Brunot Island Generating Station; Imperial Landfill; Buckeye Pipeline Coraopolis Terminal; Monroeville Landfill; Kelly Run Landfill; Pittsburgh Terminals Coraopolis; Universal Stainless and Alloy; Energy Center North Shore; LHT Terminals; Springdale Energy; US Steel Clairton; US Steel Edgar Thomson; US Steel Irvin; Neville Chemical Co.; University of Pittsburgh; Liberty Polyglas Pultrusions; ATI Flat Rolled Products; and Eastman Chemicals & Resins. Here’s how we got here: The first round of RACT determinations followed the creation of the RACT requirement by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act and were implemented in the late 1990s and early 2000s. RACT II determinations, which have only just been completed, followed the revision of the NAAQS for ozone in 2008. That brings us to RACT III, which follows the latest revision of the ozone standard, which occurred in 2015. We have blogged about the RACT requirement before, but to review: The RACT requirement instructs states to determine whether major sources of NOx and VOCs in areas that do not attain the NAAQS for ozone are using all “reasonably available control technology” to limit their emissions of NOx and VOCs. These rules are important because NOx and VOCs are the two principal precursors to the formation of ground-level ozone pollution. If such sources are not implementing RACT, the states must require them to do so, even if they were properly permitted when they began operating and have continued to operate within all applicable limits. “Although the Pittsburgh region has attained the NAAQS for ozone, all areas of Pennsylvania are deemed to be nonattainment for the purpose of implementing RACT, because the Keystone State is included in the ‘Ozone Transport Region’ established by the Clean Air Act,” GASP senior staff attorney John Baillie explained. “As a result, all major sources of NOx and VOCs in Pennsylvania will be required to comply with RACT III emission limits.” ACHD proposes to implement RACT III by including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) RACT III regulations fully by reference into Allegheny County’s Air Pollution Control regulations. “Accordingly, RACT III will generally be implemented by imposing new emission limits for NOx and/or VOCs called ‘presumptive limits’ on certain categories of sources by regulation,” Baillie said. “A source may petition to opt out of such regulatory limits, but the reviewing agency would still have to determine RACT for the source on a case-by-case basis.” A case-by-case RACT determination for a facility generally requires the facility to identify all “technically feasible” controls for its NOx or VOC emissions, and then determine whether such controls are “reasonably available” using a cost-benefit analysis that looks specifically at the cost per ton of NOx or VOC emissions that each control would remove. For RACT III, it is believed that sources in Pennsylvania that opt out of presumptive RACT III limits will be required to implement NOx-limiting controls with a cost-effectiveness of $7,500/ton, and VOC-limiting controls with a cost-effectiveness of $12,000/ton. The presumptive limits in the RACT III regulations will cover several categories of sources that were not covered by RACT II’s presumptive limits, including certain (with “certain” meaning “depending on their capacities or ratings”): natural gas compression and transmission facilities rich burn stationary internal combustion engines solid fuel (but not coal) combustion units certain direct-fired heaters, furnaces, ovens, glass melting furnaces, and lime kilns. It should be noted that for the remaining coal-fired electric generating units in Pennsylvania, RACT III limits will be determined on a case-by-case basis. RACT III will also lower some of RACT II’s presumptive limits, including those for: certain combustion turbines, certain lean burn stationary internal combustion engines, and Portland cement kilns. DEP estimates that implementing RACT III could reduce NOx emissions on a state-wide basis by as many as 9,000 tons per year and yield a corresponding state-wide health benefit valued at between $337 and $732 million. ACHD’s proposed RACT III regulations are available by a link on ACHD’s website. As mentioned above, the proposed RACT III regulations will impose new limits on rates of emissions from certain source categories and are thus technical in nature, but ACHD is accepting comments on them through Aug. 18 by email at aqcomments@alleghenycounty.us.

UPDATE: Stench and elevated concentrations of H2S persisted Thursday at the Liberty air quality monitor. Another exceedance of Pennsylvania's 24-hour average standard was guaranteed early - the fifth straight day the Mon Valley was assaulted by stench. It was the eighth such exceedance in the past nine days. If you live in or downwind of the Mon Valley, we don’t have to tell you just how bad the air quality has been over the past week, or that the stench of sulfur and rotten eggs ruined some otherwise beautiful fall days. And we likely don’t have to tell you that the poor air quality’s assault on public health and wellbeing continues today. Users of CMU CreateLab’s crowdsourcing app SmellPGH are reporting significant industrial odors and Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) monitor data show concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (or H2S for short) remain elevated at its air quality monitor in Liberty Borough What we will tell you is this: The latest bout of bad air quality culminated with an exceedance Tuesday of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate pollution (PM2.5). Worth noting is that as of the time of publishing this story, what we’re telling you is something ACHD has NOT told the public, but more on that later. Air quality exceeding the 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS was not unexpected: The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day warning for Tuesday, which meant officials anticipated the full day to end up as an “orange” air quality index (AQI) day. An AQI in the “orange” range means air quality is “unhealthy for sensitive [populations]” like children and folks with respiratory diseases. The lowest “orange” AQI is 101 and equates to a 24-hour PM2.5 average of 35.5 ug/m3 - which is the trigger for a PM2.5 exceedance. The final 24-hour average PM2.5 concentration at the Liberty monitor yesterday was 42.0 ug/m3, based on preliminary hourly data. While PM2.5 levels are not expected to remain above the federal health-based standard today, H2S remains an issue for local residents. Today will mark fourth day in a row that the Mon Valley has been overwhelmed with stench and seventh such exceedance at the Liberty monitor in the past eight days. As a reminder, while the stench was bad the past few days, H2S levels were far worse last week, when concentrations of exceeded Pennsylvania’s one-hour standard for the first time since 2015. H2S levels exceeding the state 1-hour standard have only occurred nine times in the past 20 years, according to ACHD monitor data. But back to those PM2.5 concentrations… In addition to the DEP calling for a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day, ACHD issued a Mon Valley Air Pollution Watch for Tuesday. These watches are part of a Mon Valley Episodic Air Pollution regulation that went into effect last year. That rule, which aims to minimize particulate pollution on days when poor weather conditions are expected to impact ambient air quality, requires major sources of pollution to minimize their emissions when a Watch turns into a Warning. When should a Mon Valley Air Pollution Watch change to a Warning? Good question - one we’d like health department leaders to clarify. Here’s why: The regulation states that Mon Valley Air Pollution Warning is triggered when the rolling 24-hour average for PM2.5 reaches 35.5 ug/m3. That threshold was reached as of 8 a.m. Tuesday and steadily increased throughout the day. But the rule only requires the Warning be put into effect if ACHD “has determined atmospheric conditions will continue” to contributed to a likely exceedance of the PM2.5 NAAQS. Which brings us to the questions of the day: Why didn’t ACHD issue the warning? And had the department asked industry polluters like U.S. Steel to dial back production and take other actions to mitigate poor air quality, could the exceedance of the federal health-based standards have been avoided? To be clear: ACHD issued the Mon Valley Watch on Monday afternoon and residents have heard nothing from them since. “What happened yesterday was a failure of leadership and a failure of communication,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “Residents deserve so much more from ACHD than what they are getting. We encourage the department to take a look at the many, many odor reports made on the SmellPGH app as well as the personal stories people shared on social media yesterday.” He continued: “The lack of information, empathy, and action from our health department are deeply troubling.” Editor's Note: We graphed the PM2.5 and H2S values for those who'd like to take a deeper dive into the data: If you appreciate GASP's updates, watchdog work, educational offerings, and advocacy, please consider making a donation today. For as little as $5, you can support our work and help us keep good content on the air (see what we did there?). Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.

But with the recent Trump EPA regulatory rollbacks, ongoing local Air Quality Program funding issues,

During periods of unhealthy air quality, the EPA suggests that people with heart or lung disease, older hydrogensulfide #AlleghenyCounty #MonValley #alleghenycountyairquality #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #EPA