Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) is seeking a full-time field technician to join our team. The field technician is responsible for the regular collection of air samples in support of an EPA-funded regional air quality monitoring project in partnership with several community partner organizations. The Field Technician reports to our executive director and works closely with the project manager. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in environmental science or a related field and an interest in air quality. Please note that training will be provided. Field Technician is a grant-funded and currently temporary position lasting the duration of the project, until Summer 2027. Responsibilities: Complete training in the project’s air quality monitoring equipment, including placement, maintenance, and calibration, and the project’s reporting requirements. Collect air samples from 6 locations within Allegheny County. Maintain air sampling and monitoring equipment . Support preparation of semiannual reports on air quality findings. Assist community partners in conducting outreach and education activities to raise awareness about air quality issues. Work independently and as part of a team. Comply with all safety regulations. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree or work experience related to environmental science, public health, chemistry, or other relevant field. Excellent data collection and analysis skills. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage several tasks and meet deadlines. Ability to work independently and as part of a team. Valid driver's license. Benefits and Salary: This is a full-time, salaried position at $40,000 annually. Our benefits package includes: paid holidays and benefit days a medical insurance reimbursement, and a pension plan beginning after one year of employment Mileage reimbursement for approved work-related travel Opportunity to work on a meaningful project that makes a difference in the community Chance to work with a team of dedicated professionals Apply: Please submit your resume and cover letter to patrick@gasp-pgh.org on or before Sept. 15.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced enhancements to a program designed to advance indoor air quality protection and expand market accessibility. Known as Indoor AirPlus, the voluntary partnership and labeling program is designed to improve indoor air quality in homes.  Builders that participate in the program use construction practices designed to minimize exposure to airborne pollutants and contaminants in the home. Strategies include: mold and moisture control radon resistance pest management improved heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems combustion venting healthier building materials and homeowner education Labeled homes can help reduce the likelihood of common and serious health problems like infectious disease, heart disease, cancer, asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, headaches and more. This new version encourages broad industry participation, substantially advances indoor air quality protections, and strengthens third-party verification and quality assurance. Under this program update, builders may choose to build Indoor AirPlus Certified homes, or Indoor AirPlus Gold Certified homes. With no other certification prerequisites, the Indoor AirPlus Certified home is built with key strategies targeting improved indoor air quality.  The Indoor AirPlus Gold Certified home is designed to include more advanced protections for improved indoor air quality in conjunction with the energy efficiency benefits of ENERGY STAR certification. Wanna take a deeper dive into this particular program? Here are some helpful links: Indoor AirPlus Indoor AirPlus Version 2 Find an Indoor AirPlus builder or rater in your area Join the Indoor AirPlus program

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Saturday published notice of a new practice regarding the deadlines for sources to submit their initial applications for Title V Operating Permits, something that is required under the Clean Air Act for major sources of air pollution. It’s good news! According to DEP’s new practice, new Title V sources in Pennsylvania will, moving forward, be required to submit applications for their initial Title V Operating Permits within 12 months of beginning operations.   Note, however, that new Title V sources that are already operating will be required to submit their applications by Nov. 25 if they have not already done so. “DEP’s existing regulations provide that a Title V source must submit its initial application for an operating permit within 120 days of the department providing notice that the application is due, but do not proscribe what, if anything, triggers DEP’s obligation to provide such notice,” GASP senior attorney John Baillie explained.  He continued: “Accordingly, the new practice announced over the weekend should reduce the number of major sources across Pennsylvania that are operating under temporary authorizations according to the limits in their pre-construction permits.”   In our region, it appears that two sources may be affected by the new practice, including Hunter Panels in Fayette County and the Tri-County Landfill in Mercer County.   Additionally, two new major sources in our region have submitted applications for their initial Title V Operating Permits in the last several months, perhaps in anticipation of the announcement DEP’s new practice: Shell Chemical Appalachia in Beaver County and Hill Top Energy Center in Greene County How will major sources of air pollution in Allegheny County be impacted? They won’t. Here’s why: Sources in Allegheny County are regulated by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) rather than DEP and therefore are not affected by the new practice. ACHD’s rules and regulations for Title V Operating Permits, like DEP’s, do not specify what, if anything, triggers a new source’s obligation to file its initial application for a Title V Operating Permit.

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) announced today that its Air Quality Program is seeking applications for the funding of fleet electrification, tree canopy expansion, equipment electrification, and climate resiliency/adaptation projects with $5 million in total allocated for the initiatives. Data collected and analyzed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection shows that vehicle PM2.5 emissions contribute approximately 25 percent of all air pollution in Allegheny County. Projects for 2024 are aimed at reducing this pollution and building resiliency against the effects of climate change. This year, municipalities, Council of Governments, special districts, and others across the county - with preference given to environmental justice communities, especially those in the Mon Valley - are eligible to apply for fleet electrification projects.  The projects must replace diesel fueled vehicles with zero-emission equivalents, and/or acquire the necessary infrastructure to support a zero-emission fleet. The maximum award for an individual fleet electrification grant is $800,000. It is anticipated that multiple projects will be accepted.  Funding will also be used for projects that will obtain, plant, and maintain the tree population throughout Allegheny County. Proposed projects must prioritize areas with lower percentage of tree canopy. Applicants, which may include both municipalities and community organizations, must provide both an in-depth cost-benefit analysis of adding trees and a specific maintenance plan for sustaining the project for a minimum of five years. Projects must be located on public land, located near pollution sources or in pollution corridors, and utilize tree species that are drought tolerant and provide maximum pollution reduction.  Multiple projects are anticipated to be selected, each with a maximum award of $50,000.  Two new projects are being introduced this year: Electrification of Municipal Equipment and Climate Resiliency/Climate Adaptation.  The electrification of municipal equipment is open to municipal governments, Councils of Government, special districts and others. Funding is for replacement of diesel or gasoline fueled equipment such as lawn mowers and weed whackers. Projects must be between $10,000 to $75,000 each. Up to six grants will be awarded. The climate resiliency/climate adaptation projects are open to nonprofit organizations, local governments, Council of Governments, and academic institutions in Allegheny County. These grants are for designing and constructing/installing projects that both offset the effects of climate related impacts and to improve air quality. Priority will be given to environmental justice areas and municipalities in the Mon Valley. Up to two grants will be awarded, each at up to $1 million. Municipalities and community organizations interested in learning more about these two grant opportunities can find more information, as well as application materials on the Health Department's Clean Air Fund webpage. The Allegheny County's Clean Air Fund, in part, supports activities and projects that: Improve air quality by reducing, eliminating or preventing air pollution Broaden understanding of air quality effects through health studies Educate the public on issues concerning air pollution Provide special purpose ambient air monitoring Complete any other project consistent with the provisions of Article XXI and the mission of the Board of Health The funding will come from the Clean Air Fund, which is funded through penalties collected from air pollution emitters by the Air Quality Program's enforcement efforts. No tax dollars will be utilized to fund projects. Applications and all supporting materials are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 23. To learn more about the ACHD's air quality efforts, visit: alleghenycounty.us/airquality

UPDATE: ACHD monitoring staff got back to GASP Wednesday afternoon with an update. The department said that multiple municipalities via 911 had been receiving an especially high volume of complaints about sulfur-like odors in the Mon Valley over this period. While the H2S concentrations were higher than usual during this time period, the instruments passed all quality assurance and quality control checks while the H2S data appeared to generally match the conditions we were receiving from the public.  It was through evaluation of the data (especially as it relates to the ratio of SO2 to H2S) that an anomaly was spotted in the SO2 concentrations over this time period.   They recommended folks take a look at the FAQ section ACHD developed, which will hopefully address those questions. https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Health-Department/Air-Quality/Air-Quality-Dashboards/Hydrogen-Sulfide ACHD also noted that dates were being mulled for a subcommittee meeting, where the subject will be discussed at length. We will keep you posted on that meeting date when it's announced. --- The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) announced in a press release Tuesday afternoon that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) data has been removed from the website after monitoring equipment at the Liberty Monitoring Station was discovered to be not fully functional. The equipment failure impacts data from March 20, 2024, to May 14, 2024, and on May 17, 2024. ACHD stressed that only sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide data were affected during this time period. Here’s what the press release said: The issue was discovered as part of the quality assessment and quality control process of the data. A probe line became dislodged from its exterior housing on the sulfur dioxide monitor causing readings to deviate from the norm despite the instrument passing all regular instrument quality assurance checks.  No current enforcement actions are impacted by this data removal and the specific data affected during this time period will not be used in any future enforcement action(s).  To learn more please visit the Hydrogen Sulfide webpage . For hourly data from all monitoring stations, including the Liberty Monitoring Station, visit the Hourly Air Quality Data . “It’s concerning anytime there is an equipment failure that leads to data being invalidated,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “Given how much H2S emissions have impacted the area in general and Mon Valley residents in particular, we hope the health department releases more detailed information about what happened and what the ramifications might be.” GASP on Wednesday morning reached out to ACHD monitoring staff to glean more information and to inquire about the date of the next Air Quality Monitoring Subcommittee meeting, where these issues are generally discussed in great detail.  We will keep you posted on what we find out.

The Clean Air Act spent some time in the headlines recently thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision  to stay the EPA’s “Good Neighbor” plan, which would have required certain sources that emit oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in 23 states to reduce their emissions.     If you need a little more background info on all that,  we blogged about those specific measures and what they would mean to sources in Pennsylvania in March 2023 .   Today, we want to share an explanation of how the Supreme Court may have decided as it did. But first some legal background to put things in context…   The Clean Air Act requires that EPA set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for certain air pollutants. Once EPA sets or revises a NAAQS, the law requires that states submit State Implementation Plans (or SIPs) that provide for the “implementation, maintenance, and enforcement” of the NAAQS within their boundaries.    The Clean Air Act also contemplates that the states, not EPA, will bear primary responsibility for determining how the NAAQS will be implemented, maintained, and enforced.    However, it also requires that each SIP prohibit emissions that “contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other State” of a NAAQs; this is referred to as the Act’s “Good Neighbor Provision.”   If a state does not submit a SIP or submits a SIP that does not meet all applicable requirements, the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to issue what’s known as a Federal Implementation Plan for the state after giving the state an opportunity to submit a valid SIP.    Further, if the SIP initially submitted by a state is insufficient, EPA must give the state a chance to cure the deficiency by submitting a revised SIP, unless the deadline for doing so has passed.   Now, back to the “Good Neighbor” plan itself.   In 2022, EPA determined that some 23 states’ SIPs (including Pennsylvania’s) ran afoul of the Act’s Good Neighbor Provision because they did not adequately limit emissions from sources that contributed to high levels of ozone in downwind states (and either contributed to nonattainment of the 2015 ozone NAAQS or interfered with attainment of the 2015 ozone NAAQS).   However, rather than give those states the opportunity to revise their SIPs to fix their deficiencies, EPA imposed a single, uniform Federal Implementation Plan on all 23 of them.    That Federal Implementation Plan, which is called the “Good Neighbor” plan, required that certain control measures be used by certain sources of NOx emissions. EPA determined that those control measures were cost-effective based on the premise that they would be applied to all subject sources in all twenty-three states and made no determination that the measures would be cost-effective if applied in fewer than all of the 23 states.    The failure to make such a determination proved to be fatal to the “Good Neighbor” plan. After the plan was issued, it was successfully challenged in court by a number of states and thus did not go into effect in those states.    Consequently, the Supreme Court found that the cost-effectiveness determination that EPA used to justify the plan was no longer valid because that determination depended on the plan going into effect in all twenty-three states.    That rendered the plan itself – because it was based on an invalid determination – “arbitrary and capricious” and thus illegal and unenforceable.   “By trying to do an end run around the Clean Air Act provisions that give states the first and second cracks at imposing emission limits to attain the ozone NAAQS, EPA may have squandered an opportunity to get better controls in place, said GASP’s Senior Attorney John Baillie.    He continued:   “However, even after the Supreme Court’s decision EPA is still left with the options of making the cost-effectiveness determinations necessary to justify the plan or giving the states the opportunity to revise their SIPs to reduce their emissions of ozone-forming pollutants as necessary to protect air quality in downwind states.”   GASP continues to follow this issue closely and will keep you posted.

We have some good news to share, friends: Back in March, we commented  on the draft Title V Operating Permit for Neville Chemical Company, which is located on Neville Island in Allegheny County.    Our comments noted that the draft permit’s testing, monitoring, and recordkeeping requirements were not sufficient to assure compliance with emission limits on three sources within the facility (specifically, the facility’s packaging centers) as the Clean Air Act requires.   “A permit limit is just ink on paper unless there is a way to ascertain that the source is operating in compliance with it,” GASP attorney John Baillie said.   We are pleased to report that the Allegheny County Health Department heeded our comments and has issued a final permit that incorporates new testing and recordkeeping requirements for Neville Chemical’s packaging centers  that should help assure compliance with the permit’s emission limits.    Although the packaging centers are not large sources of air pollution, it is still important to be able to make sure they are operating within legal limits.    Chalk the revisions to the permit up as a victory for clean air!

UPDATE: The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a consent decree with U.S. Steel regarding years' long emissions issues at its Edgar Thomson facility. You can read all about that decree here. 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 Thomson. GASP wanted to encourage residents to continue to be vigilant and make air quality complaints to ACHD each and every time you experience foul odors or see dark, thick plumes stretching into the sky from Edgar Thomson. We also wanted to remind folks that the most effective air quality complaints include the time and date of the incident, as well as a quick narrative of what you saw and where. Because we get that most people probably aren’t well-versed in the steel-making process, we put together some visuals to help you better understand operations at the plant and more effectively pinpoint where the emissions you’re seeing are coming from – check it out: #EdgarThomson #USSteel #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #airqualityreport #EPA #airquality

Want to make a difference? Want to make your voice heard? One way to do both of these things is to share your viewpoint via a letter to the editor. What is a letter to the editor? At times referred to as an LTE, these short op-ed pieces are typically written in response to a news article, current event, or community concern. Because of space limitations, please note that every character counts. Fact: Punchy, succinct letters to the editor are much more likely to be published than pieces that opine on a particular issue for hundreds and hundreds of words. Why write a letter to the editor? If sharing your standpoint on an issue you care deeply about isn’t enough, consider this: Letters to the editor could help determine news coverage. Why? Because the job of news editors is to help determine what issues are most important to readers. At a time when local newsrooms are understaffed, clear indicators of what stories most impact and interest readers are the stories assigning editors will dole out to their reporters. LTEs also send a clear message to policyholders (think your municipal and county representatives, as well as those who serve in the House and Senate) about the issues to which they need to devote more time and attention. Now that you know WHY letters to the editor are so important, here are some pro tips on HOW to write an LTE that will actually get published: Check with the publication to which you intend to submit your LTE so you know their requirements. Letters to the editor often have strict word limits. They often also require the letter writer to disclose their name, address, and phone number. Don’t worry: Personal information like your address and phone number won’t be published. The editorial editor will just need this information to verify your identity should she decide to publish your piece. Expect an email or phone call from the publication to confirm any details of your letter. Remember that background matters. Write your letter assuming that most people don’t know the intimate details of the issue you’re writing about - consider opening your letter with a reference to the story or event in question. Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to mention your occupation, educational background, or professional designations/affiliations if they help add credibility to your point/argument. Facts are king. You have limited space to make your argument: Make sure it’s fueled by evidence that supports your position - think studies, statistics, recent relevant administrative actions or votes, as well as personal anecdotes. Consider the “inverted pyramid.” In the journalism field, “inverted pyramid” refers to a style of news writing where the most important information is included in the first paragraph few paragraphs so that readers will get the most pertinent information first. Articles written in inverted pyramid style are also typically easier to edit because they are structured with the least pertinent information near the end. End it with a call to action. What do you want people to do right after they read your letter to the editor? Do you want them to vote a certain way? Support a specific piece of legislation or administrative action? Let readers know! Give it one last look before you hit, “Send.” Here are some things to ask yourself: Did I use jargon? (If so, get rid of it) Did I use abbreviations people might not get? (If so, spell the words out and put the acronym in parentheses following the term) Can you make anything shorter and more concise? In one of the premier books on writing, “Elements of Style,” William Strunk Jr. advised: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” Consider this when you’re proofing your final LTE submission.

Editor's Note: This blog was updated to include additional information from a county press release issued Monday afternoon. The Allegheny County Board of Health on Monday unanimously approved the nomination of Dr. Iulia Vann to serve as the next director of the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). Dr. Vann currently serves as the Public Health Director of the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina. They hold both a medical degree and master’s degree in public health. In their role in North Carolina, Dr. Vann is responsible for managing more than 450 full-time employees and a budget of $55 million. Under their leadership, the department was recognized as the 2021 North Carolina Public Health Association Health Department of the Year specifically for its creative response to the COVID pandemic and its determination to keep residents safe. Dr. Vann also currently serves as the President of the North Carolina Public Health Association. "Dr. Vann's passion for protecting public health and track record of taking on big challenges is exactly why we want her to be the next Director of the Allegheny County Health Department," Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said in a statement. "I want to thank the Search Committee and the Board of Health for committing itself to a very thorough and broad search that resulted in selecting Dr. Vann, and dozens of community leaders who contributed input and thoughts to the search process to help shape our shared vision for this critically important position." Dr. Vann said it was an honor to be selected to lead ACHD. "I'm no stranger to complex and multi-faceted public health challenges, and I'm so proud of what we accomplished in Guilford County during my tenure," they added. "I look forward to bringing the creativity and energy that defined my time in North Carolina to Allegheny County to help protect public health for the residents of Western Pennsylvania and ensure we are building communities where everyone is safe and thriving." Patrick Dowd will continue to serve in the role of interim director until his departure July 9. The county announced last week that Dowd was hired as the CEO of the Pittsburgh Environmental Charter School. At that time, Dr. Barbara Nightingale, ACHD's deputy director of clinical services, will serve as the Interim until Dr. Vann begins later this summer. “Air quality is one of our most pressing public health issues, and we look forward to meeting and working with Dr. Vann to create positive change for our region,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said.