The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has begun an emergency project to plug two leaking abandoned natural gas wells along Scrubgrass Road in Scott Township. Tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 6, DEP’s contractor will begin plugging two leaking abandoned wells - Nixon 501-1 (003-00960) and Nixon 501-3 (003-00962) - using emergency plugging funds. DEP’s contractor will be removing trees and potentially flaring the wells in preparation for plugging. Flaring is the controlled burning of natural gas from a well and may be necessary to evacuate gas from the well to ensure it can be safely plugged. The project is expected to take about a month to complete with a goal to permanently eliminate the potential for these wells to leak methane. “Due to the increasing methane levels, DEP has determined that this project is necessary to protect public health, safety, and the environment,” officials said in a release Monday. “Without this emergency project, the well could continue to deteriorate and stray methane gas could migrate into nearby sewer lines through the soil. The existing two leaking abandoned wells increase the risk of gas levels accumulating to unsafe levels if adverse weather conditions exist which would prevent the gas from dissipating. DEP will monitor stray gas while plugging the well.” DEP previously performed an emergency mitigation project in 2019 to address stray soil gas in the area. Recently, methane levels around the wells increased, and DEP and Scott Township officials have received a number of odor complaints around the Kane Woods Nature Area. DEP has allocated unprecedented resources to plug orphaned and abandoned wells, which allowed Pennsylvania to leverage millions in federal funding. Two additional wells in this area - Nixon 501-4 (003-00963) and Charter 502-1 (003-00964) - are slated to be plugged later this year using federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds. Orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells can leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that contributes to climate change. Methane can migrate into buildings and water supplies. Pennsylvania has over 30,000 orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells on its inventory and hundreds of thousands of legacy wells may be unaccounted for, posing a major financial liability and environmental, public health, and safety risk. Editor’s Note: Speaking of methane, did you hear that the EPA just proposed new regs aimed at reducing emissions of the hazardous pollutant in the oil and gas industry? It’s complicated, but our senior attorney John breaks it all down in plain language.

Editor's Note: U.S. Steel on Jan. 26 appealed this enforcement order. You can read the appeal document here. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has issued an enforcement order against U.S. Steel, having determined that emissions from the company’s Clairton Coke facility caused 152 exceedances of the state hydrogen sulfide (H2S) air quality standard between March 2, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2023. The 14-page enforcement order, dated Dec. 29 but uploaded to the ACHD website late this week, indicates those exceedances occurred at ACHD’s Liberty Borough monitoring site. Here’s a breakdown of the fines: In addition to paying the civil penalty, the order also requires U. S. Steel to “take action to prevent future exceedances of the H2S ambient air concentration standard from occurring and provide ACHD with a plan to achieve and maintain compliance with its requirement to not cause exceedances of the H2S ambient air concentration standard.” Upon notification of ACHD's approval of the compliance plan, U. S. Steel is required to immediately implement it. The plan must be completely implemented within 45 days after that approval. The company is then required to submit a report to ACHD detailing the actions it’s completed by date. However, if ACHD determines the compliance plan is ineffective in eliminating exceedances of the H2S ambient air concentration standard, it may require U.S. Steel to submit a revised compliance plan and/or may pursue other remedies available in Article 21. “This is the type of action GASP has been imploring ACHD to take,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “Last year alone there were 103 H2S exceedances at the Liberty monitor. That’s 103 days on which residents’ health and quality of life were inhibited.” He added: “We hope that this latest enforcement action leads to a compliance plan that finally stems this issue once and for all. And if it doesn’t, we hope ACHD swiftly takes further action. Enough is enough.” GASP staff is currently reviewing the order, which you can read for yourself here. We continue to follow this issue closely and will keep you posted. Editor’s Note: In March of 2022, ACHD published a comprehensive study analyzing potential sources of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) that have been driving exceedances of the Pennsylvania 24-hour average H2S standard at its air quality monitor in Liberty Borough. You can read that study here.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded more than $1.28 million in funding to improve air quality in communities through cleaner fuel transportation infrastructure, and some of that will fund projects right here in Allegheny County. Cleaner fuel transportation infrastructure is a big deal, especially here in Pennsylvania, where 47 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions come from gasoline and diesel vehicles, and transportation contributes up to 22 percent of Pennsylvania's overall greenhouse gas emissions. The DEP grant program provides funding to help school districts, municipalities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in Pennsylvania replace these older gasoline- or diesel-fueled vehicles with electric, renewable natural gas, compressed natural gas (CNG), ethanol, biodiesel, or propane gas fueled vehicles. It also funds installation of fueling equipment for these vehicles. The funding program engages a diverse range of stakeholders in advancing sustainable transportation. This includes Environmental Justice Areas, which DEP defines as a geographic area characterized by increased pollution burden, and sensitive or vulnerable populations based on demographic and environmental data. The 13 projects funded are estimated to save 95,555 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) per year. Eight projects are located in or serve EJ Areas. Here are the local projects funded by the DEP grant program. Congrats to awardees: Churchill Borough: $15,000 for the purchase of two Class 1 EV passenger vehicles for use by the Borough’s police department. Borough of Oakmont: $7,500 for the purchase of one Class 2 EV light duty truck for use by the Borough’s Parks Department maintenance staff. West Mifflin Sanitary Sewer & Stormwater Authority: $7,500 for the purchase of one Class 1 EV passenger vehicle. Allentown Mack Sales & Service Inc: $98,807 for the installation of DC Fast chargers, as well as Level 2 chargers, at two locations, one in Allegheny County and another in Schuylkill County.

The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) on Wednesday sounded the alarm to the Allegheny County Board of Health about a trend that’s emerged over the past few months by Air Quality Program leadership: A disturbing lack of transparency. GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell addressed the issue in public comments he delivered at the start of the meeting. Here’s what he told them: Good afternoon. I’m Patrick Campbell, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, an environmental nonprofit working to improve air quality since 1969. GASP staff attends all Allegheny County Health Department air quality-related committee and board meetings, and over the last few months, we’ve noted an unfortunate trend: Air Quality Program leadership largely disregarding the input - and, in some cases, formal recommendations - of the expert volunteers on the Air Pollution Control Advisory Committee it should be relying on for guidance. The past two Air Advisory meetings were dominated by discussion about proposed changes to Article 21 related to the percentage of the Clean Air Fund ACHD can use for operating expenses each year. At these meetings, Air Quality Program leadership proposed increasing the allotment from 5 to as much as 25 percent, telling board members that the additional money was necessary to ensure the department was well-funded. At the most recent meeting, the Air Advisory Committee asked reasonable and responsible questions before voting not to recommend the proposal go to you for public comment consideration today. Questions like: Where is your proposed budget? How did you determine the new percentage? What will this money be used to fund? Can we see your financial projection for the next three years? To our amazement, Air Quality Program leadership was either unable or unwilling to provide answers to those questions. To our dismay, ACHD completely disregarded the Advisory Committee’s recommendation and placed it as an action item on today’s agenda. While GASP is an advocate for a well-funded Air Quality Program - and we believe it needs the additional money - leadership needs to show its work. We hope members of this board will press Air Quality Program leadership for additional information and if they are unable to provide that information, we hope you vote accordingly. Thank you. Fellow environmental advocates also spoke out about ACHD’s proposed Clean Air Fund changes - as did members of the Air Pollution Advisory Committee including Chairman Dan Bricmont, asking the board to reject the request. Following public comment and various reports, ACHD Deputy Director of Environmental Health Geoffrey Rabanowitz presented information on proposed changes to the county’s air pollution control regulations and asked the board to approve them for public comment. Here are the slides he shared detailing those changes: He acknowledged that he placed the action item on the agenda despite the Advisory Committee’s vote not to recommend it for public comment - saying that it reflected a “real sense of urgency.” When it was time for the vote, Board of Health members also expressed their concern over the Advisory Committee’s unanimous rejection of the proposal, as well as the lack of transparency from the department related to the request. After significant debate, members moved to reject the proposal by a vote of 4-3. Editor’s Note: Rabanowitz also shared the Air Quality Program's Major Goals for 2023. Here's what he presented to the board: Miss the meeting? You can access the video here.

UPDATE (Feb. 9, 2022): This case has been appealed to the Pennsylvania Commonweatlth Court. You can read the notice of appeal here. An Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) administrative hearing officer has dismissed an appeal filed by Ramesh Jain, Vikas Jain, and two companies they control, finding that the parties illegally disposed of asbestos waste generated during the renovation of the former George Westinghouse Research and Technology Park in Churchill Borough. The Jan. 12 order - posted to the ACHD website on Wednesday - directed the parties to pay a $1 million civil penalty by Feb. 11. This decision is the latest and hopefully last in an appeal process has lasted nearly six years. We won’t bore you with every procedural detail, but for anyone concerned with worker health and safety, public health, and air quality in general, the story is unsettling and worth knowing. A Long Time Coming In February 2017, a Churchill Borough building inspector contacted ACHD to report his suspicion that people were removing asbestos-containing material (ACM) from buildings on the Westinghouse site without following strict disposal and safety rules. ACHD inspectors investigated and promptly issued the Jains – Ramesh is Vikas’ father – and their companies an Emergency Enforcement Order demanding they cease all demolition work, prevent anyone from entering the buildings, not alter their removal equipment, make that equipment available for further analysis, and provide waste manifests showing where the previously-removed ACM was taken. From this point forward, an incredible amount of administrative hearing procedural maneuvering occurred. It matters, but what matters more are the appalling facts of the case (based on findings in the recent order denying the appeal). To start, there was no permit for the work despite ACHD calculating that more than 160,000 square feet of asbestos-containing floor tile and 10,000 linear feet of amosite had been removed from the site. Per EPA regulations, permits are required for ACM removal in excess of, respectively, 160 square feet and 260 linear feet. ACHD inspectors did not observe “any evidence” of the required safety equipment, materials, postings, practices, and procedures. This includes worksite warning signs, sealing of the work area, and methods to prevent the escape of asbestos. Workers were observed handling ACM without any protective gear. Workers were also directed to place ACM debris in black trash bags and toss them in a pick-up truck to dispose of it in a dumpster located outside of one of Vikas Jain’s residential rental properties. The contents of the dumpster, including sealed trash bags containing ACM, were subsequently taken to a local landfill that was not qualified to receive asbestos-contaminated waste. Finally, in direct defiance of the Emergency Order, the appellants in this case “intentionally switched, concealed, and cleaned off equipment before providing it to ACHD for inspection and testing.” The only procedural note we will share is that one reason this appeal took six years is that in 2019, Vikas Jain pled guilty in federal court to intentionally violating the Clean Air Act. Why Asbestos is Still a Major Air Quality and Public Health Concern & The Local Regs Meant to Protect Both Asbestos is a group of six naturally occurring minerals composed of microscopic bundles of fibers. These fibers are resistant to heat, fire, and chemicals and don’t conduct electricity—all reasons why asbestos was widely used in the building and construction industries for everything from strengthening cement and plastics to insulation, roofing, fireproofing, and sound absorption from the late 1800s until the 1970s, when the federal government began regulating it. While health studies suggested a link between asbestos exposure and pulmonary illnesses as early as the 1930s, it wasn’t formally classified as a human carcinogen until 1987. In 1988, the EPA estimated that asbestos had been used in the construction of more than 750,000 public buildings. When asbestos fibers are inhaled, they may get trapped in the lungs and stay there. Over time, they may accumulate and cause scarring and inflammation, which can affect breathing and lead to serious health problems such as lung cancer and chronic lung disease. Because of its inherent health risks, the Clean Air Act authorized the EPA to establish work practice standards that must be followed to ensure the safe and proper handling and removal of asbestos during renovation work. The Clean Air Act also authorized the EPA to establish disposal requirements for owners/operators who wish to demolish or renovate a facility that has asbestos-containing materials. In Allegheny County, ACHD is the agency responsible for enforcing the EPA requirements and permitting activities where asbestos might be released into the air. ACHD’s webpage includes many resources covering the regulations and health hazards of asbestos. Asbestosis is of particular concern in Allegheny County, where ACHD says the mortality rate is 50 percent higher than the national average. GASP Remains Concerned About Asbestos, Hopeful Jain Case Will Serve as “Cautionary Tale” “What these business owners did was unconscionable - their reckless behavior put not only their own workers but also an unknown number of Allegheny County residents at risk of exposure to asbestos,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “This ruling really is a victory for public health.” He continued: “We hope this case serves as a cautionary tale for businesses tempted to skirt asbestos-abatement regulations put in place to help protect our air quality and the health of both workers and members of the public.” GASP continues to be concerned about the number of asbestos-related enforcement actions in Allegheny County and commends Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Quality Program for its continued attention to this burgeoning public health issue. “An ACHD official told us inspectors can’t write abatement-related enforcement actions fast enough,” Campbell said. “We hope Allegheny County considers this uptick in enforcement activity when budget time comes around. It’s imperative that ACHD has the resources to put a stop to these kinds of bad actors.” Editor’s Note: You can read the 38-page order in its entirety here.

Editor's Note: This blog has been updated to include a link to GASP's formal written comments. GASP joined residents and fellow environmental advocates at a public hearing Wednesday to demand the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) create a comprehensive compliance schedule for U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works facility. You can get the skinny on the hearing regarding portions of the Clairton Coke Works' Title V operating permit on our blog here. Here are the comments that GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell presented: Good evening. My name is Patrick Campbell - I am the executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), a nonprofit organization working to improve our regional air quality since 1969. U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works emits myriad harmful pollutants - from fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide to hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and benzene. The facility is the largest coke plant in North America and - as residents know all too well - is a major source of air pollution with a troubling history of noncompliance with air quality regulations. Despite this, the amended Title V operating permit Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) issued to U.S. Steel for its Clairton Coke Works facility still does not include a proper compliance schedule for these emissions. Such a comprehensive compliance schedule is necessary and would help stem emissions violations at the Clairton Coke Works - violations that ACHD said are regular and ongoing. In an Oct 20, 2023, letter from ACHD to U.S. Steel, the department states: “ACHD regularly inspects and observes violations of . . . charging, traveling, door areas, charging ports, offtake piping, pushing, combustion stacks, soaking, and miscellaneous topside emissions.” The department added, “[t]hose violations have been ongoing for years and continue to occur.” While the permit now includes more work practices and a smattering of OSHA regs, they do not supplement the permit record as EPA demanded. The compliance schedule must include stick-and-carrot milestones and benchmarks. There must be deadlines and consequences for missing them. And the penalties for not meeting these benchmarks need to be lost production for U.S. Steel, not additional fines. Because despite a high-profile settlement agreement in 2019 between ACHD and U.S. Steel intended to get the Clairton facility back into compliance with air quality regulations, the company has since racked up millions more in emissions-related fines. The sad truth is that while ACHD and U.S. Steel duke these issues out in legal filings, the emissions violations in Clairton persist, impacting residents’ health and quality of life. The time to hold U.S. Steel accountable is now and the way to do it is to amend the Clairton Coke Works’ Title V permit to include a proper compliance schedule. Thank you.

GASP on Wednesday afternoon presented testimony at a public hearing in Natrona Heights held by Allegheny County Health Department to solicit comments on a draft Title V permit it issued to ATI. We also submitted formal technical comments that you can read here. Here are the comments our Executive Director Patrick Campbell presented about the Brackenridge-based polluter: Good afternoon. My name is Patrick Campbell, I am the executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), a nonprofit organization working to improve our regional air quality since 1969. ATI’s steelmaking operations in Brackenridge have been a major source of air pollution in Allegheny County for decades, and it’s long past time for the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to issue a strong Title V permit that assures the facility complies with air quality regulations. Unfortunately, the draft Title V operation permit issued by ACHD is lacking - especially regarding testing, monitoring, and recordkeeping requirements. The permit establishes annual and pounds-per-hour emission limits for the Electric Arc Furnaces’ emissions of total particulate matter and other hazardous air pollutants. However, it only requires a performance test to be run every five years to determine compliance with those emission limits and collect certain information about each heat processed during that performance test. We want to stress that a performance test that is conducted only once every five years is, by itself, in no way sufficient to assure compliance with annual and hourly emission limits. Moreover, it does not appear from the permit that ATI is required to collect data regarding certain heats conducted in the ordinary course of business that could be compared to similar data collected during the performance test to determine compliance with those annual and hourly emission limits. Without that data, it is not clear to GASP how ACHD can assure ATI is complying with the annual and hourly emission limits outlined in the permit. GASP believes ACHD must revise the permit to require ATI to establish operating limits based on parameters developed during the performance test and record and report data regarding those parameters for each heat. That data could then be compared to the parameters developed during the performance test and enable ACHD to determine and assure ATI’s compliance with all applicable emission limits. Thank you.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has received $3 million from the EPA to develop a Priority Climate Action Plan focused on reducing emissions in the Commonwealth’s industrial sector - and they are seeking input from the public. Upon completing that plan, DEP will then be eligible to apply for up to $500 million to implement it. DEP’s plan will focus on a statewide industrial decarbonization grant program, known as Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions in Pennsylvania (RISE PA), that will provide funding for industries to reduce carbon and benefit the health and safety of surrounding communities. DEP is seeking funding for RISE PA from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). According to the 2023 Pennsylvania Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, the industrial sector is the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector, accounting for just over 30 percent of Pennsylvania’s total GHG emissions. DEP is also looking for input from industry, academia, community-based organizations, and other interested stakeholders on issues related to the design and implementation of RISE PA. The department said in a release that it is specifically interested in receiving input on program design, size, scope, scale, and award structure as well as the potential outputs and metrics, including emissions reductions and community benefits. If DEP receives CPRG funding for RISE PA, prospective projects would need to satisfy the following proposed criteria: Benefit (and not negatively impact) low-income and disadvantaged communities Achieve GHG emission reductions that are long-lasting and certain Incorporate high labor standards, emphasize job quality, and support equitable workforce development DEP is requesting responses to 10 questions to inform the development of program solicitation guidelines for RISE PA. Those questions, and additional information about the Department’s general goals and objectives for RISE PA program development, can be found here. But please be aware that the deadline to submit information is coming up fast: Those who wish to weigh in must do so by e-mail to RA-EP-CPRG@pa.gov no later than Monday, Jan. 22.

The EPA has announced a proposal to strengthen Clean Air Act standards for large facilities that burn municipal solid waste. If finalized, the updated standards would reduce emissions of nine pollutants - including smog- and soot-forming sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides - by approximately 14,000 tons per year, improving air quality for overburdened communities living near these facilities. These proposed standards reflect current technologies available to control pollution cost-effectively, EPA said in a release. Here’s what you need to know: The proposed standards would apply to 57 facilities with 152 units that can combust more than 250 tons per day of municipal solid waste. Not-so-fun fact: Nearly 4 million Americans live within three miles of these large facilities, which are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color. The proposal supports ongoing efforts to protect overburdened communities from harmful pollution and is likely to reduce existing disproportionate and adverse effects on communities with environmental justice concerns. The proposed standards are based on emission levels achieved by the best controlled and lower-emitting sources and limit emissions of nine pollutants: particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, lead, cadmium, mercury, and dioxins/furans. Why is EPA taking this action? The Clean Air Act requires EPA to evaluate these standards every five years to take into account developments in pollution control technologies and techniques. EPA last revised these standards in 2006. And the agency lauded the expected benefits: The estimated benefits of this action far outweigh the expected pollution control costs. After accounting for compliance costs of the rule, EPA estimated the net present value of health benefits from the proposed rule, due to reductions in particulate matter and ozone alone, to be up to $14 billion over 20 years. Reductions of mercury, lead, and other hazardous air pollutants required by the proposal are expected to result in additional unquantified economic and public health benefits. EPA believes this action is also likely to advance environmental justice by reducing existing disproportionate and adverse effects on overburdened communities. EPA will accept comments on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Until then, you can read more information on the proposal and upcoming webinar for large municipal waste combustors.

More than one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce, transport, process, and distribute it – and much of it is sent to landfills, where it breaks down and generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. So says two newly released reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quantifying methane emissions from landfilled food waste and emphasizing the importance of reducing the amount of food that is wasted and managing its disposal in more environmentally friendly ways. In response to these findings, EPA is releasing an update to its Food Recovery Hierarchy, a tool to help decision makers, such as state and local governments, understand the best options for managing food waste in terms of environmental impacts. The release of the new ranking – called the Wasted Food Scale – marks the first update since the 1990s, reflecting more recent technological advances and changes in operational practices. EPA's research confirms that preventing food from being wasted in the first place, or source reduction, is still the most environmentally beneficial approach. The research announced today represents the first time EPA has quantified methane emissions from landfilling. This novel work published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste, giving a cost of landfilling food waste in terms of the impact on climate change. EPA conducted an analysis to estimate annual methane emissions from landfilled food waste from 1990 to 2020 and found that while total emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are decreasing, methane emissions from landfilled food waste are increasing. These estimates indicate that diverting food waste from landfills is an effective way to reduce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, from MSW landfills. EPA reports being released today include: • "From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways," which examines the environmental impacts of disposing of food waste. This report synthesizes the latest science on the environmental impacts of how food waste is commonly managed in the U.S. This report completes the analysis that began in the 2021 companion report, "From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste ," which analyzed the environmental footprint of food waste in the farm to consumer supply chain. • "Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste" represents the first time EPA has published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste. More food reaches MSW landfills than any other material, but its contribution to landfill methane emissions has not been previously quantified. Editor’s Note: GASP remains concerned about the intersection of food waste and air pollution and wants to share some resources for local folks to take meaningful action. First, the EPA has resources where you can learn more about preventing wasted food at home. We highly recommend folks who are concerned about food waste check out local nonprofit 412 Food Rescue. And check out our blog for some other ways to stave off food waste.