The Environmental Protection Agency reports that most of the counties with air quality monitors in the region covered by the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) are projected to meet the 1997 and 2006 ozone and fine particle standards in 2014. The one county projected to NOT meet the 2006 fine particle standard is Allegheny County. U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works has a huge influence on local PM2.5 concentrations there. However, long-range transport also plays a significant role in the air quality problem. Liberty-Clairton’s PM2.5 problem is caused by a combination of local and distant air pollution sources, and it can only be addressed by achieving reductions from both local and distant sources. The Clairton Coke Works must do its part; upwind air pollution sources must do theirs. More information on CSAPR: On July 6, 2011, the EPA finalized a rule that protects the health of millions of Americans by helping states reduce air pollution and attain the 1997 ozone and fine particle and 2006 fine particle National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).  This rule, known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, requires 27 states to significantly improve air quality by reducing power plant emissions that cross state lines and contribute to ozone and fine particle air pollution in other states. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will help avoid tens of thousands of premature deaths and illnesses, achieving billions of dollars in public health benefits. By 2014, the required emissions reductions will annually avoid: • 13,000 to 34,000 premature deaths • 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks • 19,000 hospital and emergency room visits • 1.8 million lost workdays or school absences • 400,000 aggravated asthma attacks Air pollution reductions will also lead to improvements in visibility in national and state parks, and increased protection for sensitive ecosystems including Adirondack lakes and Appalachian streams, coastal waters and estuaries, and forests. For more information about the CSAPR visit http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/

McConway and Torley, LLC (M&T) and the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) have finalized an agreement regarding air emission reductions at M&T’s Lawrenceville steel foundry. M&T has operated its Lawrenceville foundry since the 1860s.  The foundry manufactures steel castings and employs 273 individuals. GASP is a Pittsburgh-based environmental nonprofit that has worked on air quality issues in southwestern Pennsylvania for more than 40 years. In January 2011 the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) issued an air permit for the reactivation of an electric arc furnace at the Lawrenceville foundry. GASP appealed the permit based on concerns about potential emissions of heavy metals from the facility. M&T approached GASP to collaborate on a potential solution to the potential air quality issue. M&T and GASP agreed to supplemental emission controls over and above those required by the Environmental Protection Agency or ACHD, including a more effective collection hood on the existing furnace and membrane fabric filters on the furnace baghouses. The improvements further reduce emissions of particulate matter and heavy metals from the facility. The agreement allows M&T to proceed with its planned plant modernization, simultaneously providing more manufacturing jobs and improved air quality. “This agreement once again disproves the notion that a healthy environment and a healthy economy are incompatible,” said Rachel Filippini, GASP’s executive director. M&T and GASP are pleased with the working relationship they have established and the additional air pollution reductions that will result from this agreement. CONTACT: Group Against Smog & Pollution Joe Osborne GASP Legal Director 412-325-7382 joe@gasp-pgh.org McConway & Torley David Margulies 214-368-0909 davidm@prexperts.net #Lawrenceville #airpollution #airemissions #McConwayandTorley #settlementagreement #airquality

Honey bees are an integral insect for our society, pollinating over 40 percent of our food system. But recent research is proving that honeybees are on the decline and need our help. Honeybee colony collapse has wiped out nearly 5 million colonies in the U.S.  While not fully understood, it has been linked to many causes. Air pollution can destroy the scents that flowers emit, making it hard for bees to find their food. Pesticide and insecticide use and the importation of foreign bees with novel viruses are other causes. "Queen of the Sun" is a newly released documentary describing this phenomenon, with screening release dates in different cities across the country beginning this month. The film will be featured in Pittsburgh from May 21-25 at the Melwood Screening Room of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Visit queenofthesun.com for more information about this issue, screening details, and how you can take action.

Particulate matter (PM) is making a strong showing in their latest links. While GASP doesn’t work directly on climate change issues, many of the pollutants we work to reduce have global warming effects.  Black carbon is at the core of PM and is recognized as a short-lived climate forcer (SLCF). It has about a million times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide, and though short-lived, SLCFs currently have almost as much global warming impact as carbon dioxide. Click here to read how reducing PM can reduce the effects of climate change and why those concerned with global warming should work to cut diesel emissions. Want more? Read here how PM affects different segments of the population differently.  The study reaffirms what most of us concerned about PM know already–children, older adults, those with preexisting diseases, the obese, and others. Want even more? A report (yet to be published) that links PM from urban traffic to negative mental effects is summarized here. If you’re concerned as much as we are about particulate matter, please join GASP today and help us reduce this destructive pollutant.

Do you want to help prevent pollution from Marcellus Shale development in your community? An upcoming visual assessment training provides information on permit tracking, air pollution, and water pollution, using Fractracker, safety, and filing a complaint with DEP. The Marcellus Citizen Stewardship Project: Visual Assessment Training is an initiative of Mountain Watershed Association, and GASP is glad to be part of the partnership. The training is being held at the Bridgeside Point Building, 100 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 19. For more information, visit www.mtwatershed.com.

Ready for a 10-day weekend? With warm weather finally here, jump right into the season with all that Great Outdoors Week offers. From May 13 through May 22, Pittsburgh will be popping with outdoor activities.  You can start by running the marathon, or at least cheering the runners on. Then jump in a dragon boat or try fly fishing or rock climbing. Finish out the week by joining over 2,000 others in cycling all over the city for Pedal Pittsburgh. Great Outdoors Week promotes outdoor recreation as part of a healthy and sustainable community, and we’re happy to be part of it. The more you love the outdoors, the more you’ll realize you need clean air to enjoy it in.  You can find GASP at the Venture Outdoors Festival on Saturday, May 21. Learn more about all of the activities by clicking wallsarebad.com.

Smoking diesel trucks like this should be prohibited from operating. Not only do they represent a hazard to human and environmental health, but they obviously create a visibility problem for the vehicles traveling behind and beside them. Diesel particulate matter (PM), in part due to its ability to adsorb toxic gases and metals, is listed by EPA as a motor vehicle air toxic. Diesel PM, especially particles of 2.5 microns or smaller, has been linked to such health problems as asthma attacks and possible asthma onset, coughing and breathing difficulty, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Children, the elderly, and people with existing respiratory ailments are especially sensitive to particulate matter. Since diesel vehicles aren’t required to undergo regular emissions testing in Pennsylvania , this smoker can continue to drive through our neighborhoods belching all the while. Our advice? See if you can find a company name, phone number, license plate, or vehicle number and call the company to tell them this vehicle should be taken off the road until it can be cleaned up. If you can safely take a photo, even better. The good news is that diesel vehicles can be cleaned up by employing emission reduction technology like diesel particulate filters. The City of Pittsburgh and W.L. Roenigk Transportation are just two examples of local fleet owners/operators who have taken steps to reduce their fleets’ emissions. Soon, Pittsburgh City Council will vote on clean construction legislation that will require contractors to clean up some portion of their construction equipment before beginning work on a large publicly subsidized development project in Pittsburgh. You should also know that on-road diesel vehicles are not permitted to idle for more than five minutes (some exemptions apply). If you see someone violating Pennsylvania’s diesel idling law contact your local police or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Learn more here. In addition, Allegheny County has its own off-road construction idling regulation. You can contact the Allegheny County Health Department at 412-687-2243 if you see construction vehicles idling in the county or otherwise have an air quality complaint. Learn more about our diesel campaign and what you can do to help.

While our region showed slight improvement in particulate pollution, the ALA’s 2011 State of the Air Report gave us an F grade for both particulate and ozone pollution. Read GASP’s reaction to the report here as well as ways you can join GASP in improving our air quality.

GASP is encouraged to hear the Allegheny County Health Department is considering tougher air regulations on Marcellus Shale activity. In addition to the well-publicized danger that shale drilling operations pose to our water, there is an equally troubling risk to our air. Compressor engine exhaust, off gassing from storage tanks, and raw natural gas emissions during well completions are just a few of the many sources of air pollution associated with natural gas production. Such emissions are now causing unhealthy ozone levels in Wyoming. Given the fact that much of southwestern Pennsylvania fails to meet ozone or particulate matter standards, we can’t afford to increase the pollution burden in the air we all must breathe. That’s why GASP has been pursuing efforts at both the state and county level to adopt tough standards to limit air pollution from this industry. For this industry a number of effective air pollution control technologies exist. What’s more, because many of these technologies reduce pollution by increasing capture of hydrocarbons during the gas production process, these controls are not only cost effective, they often pay for themselves. This demonstrates once again that a healthy environment is good for the economy. We hope ACHD follows up on this talk with effective regulation and that DEP takes notice as well.

On Feb. 8, State Rep. Greg Vitali and supportive lawmakers proposed legislation that would enact a severance tax on natural gas drilling.  They pointed to The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center’s “Severance Tax Ticker” which today shows that the delay in enacting a severance tax has cost Pennsylvania over $149,000. GASP supports the enactment of a severance tax on natural gas in Pennsylvania, and hopes we can soon drop the stigma of being the only state not to levy a severance or extraction tax on this industry. So, what is a severance tax, anyway? The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center’s recent report, “Responsible Growth: Protecting the Public Interest with a Natural Severance Tax,” is an in-depth look at the issue.  The report explains that a severance tax is a method for internalizing the external costs of natural gas drilling not currently paid by the natural gas producers. Without this tax, the burden of covering these external costs is given to state and local taxpayers. For example, Pennsylvania has no severance tax on coal extraction and as a result has suffered from many negative environmental impacts from the coal industry, such as acid mine drainage. Taxpayers now have to pay to try to fix these problems, not the industry that produced them. A recent grist.org article points out that highly polluting industries are so successful because the cost of these externalities are not reflected in prices.  If we continue to make the prices of these externalities hidden, consumers will not know the full costs of the natural gas industry, and thus cannot make informed decisions. Currently, we are the only state that has high production of fossil fuels that has not enacted a severance tax on natural gas extraction. Of the 35 states that do collect a severance tax, they received a total of $16.7 billion in severance tax revenue in 2007-2008. Much of this money goes to educational systems and environmental clean-up programs. Pennsylvania’s gas industry is growing very rapidly.  While an expanding industry is great for those being employed by it, most of Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry does not pay corporate net income taxes or property taxes, let alone a severance tax. It’s a serious problem, and we desperately need a severance tax to protect Pennsylvania citizens from the burden of this industry’s externalities. What are some of these externalities? Surface erosion, contamination of water, soil compaction, and abandoned wells are among some of the main concerns. Erosion and subsequent silting is caused by construction processes before, during, and after the wells have been drilled. Water supplies can be contaminated through failures of cement well casings, surface spills, or improper wastewater disposal. The water that returns to the surface after drilling contains radioactive isotopes, such as radium-226. There is also a lack of decontamination sites to handle this water.  Finally, the wells that are abandoned must be capped, and the state is often held responsible for this burden. As of 2009, the Growing Greener fund has used up $9.3 million to cap abandoned wells. Through this summary, one can see that lacking a severance tax will put a heavy burden on Pennsylvanians, especially future generations who more than likely will have nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing. How do we ensure this severance tax will be fair to Pennsylvanians? The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center produced an article that explains how to make a severance tax fair to Pennsylvanians and to the gas industry. Their recommendations include: Set a reasonable tax rate, one that is fair but still competitive.  Our rate should account for factors such as our proximity to gas markets. Do not allow loopholes in the tax, such as deducting costs for transportation and production, or tax breaks during the early, very productive years of production. Do not exempt low-producing wells from a severance tax, which could make only one third of natural gas produced by wells subject to the severance tax. Further recommendations include allowing local governments to collect property taxes on oil and gas, developing a specific plan for where tax revenues will be allocated, and requiring the gas industry to keep their production open to the public. Our citizens should not be held responsible for externalities associated with natural gas drilling. It is unjust to put such an immense burden on so many that have nothing to do with the natural gas industry. GASP supports a severance tax that takes these recommendations into account, and is working with partners to make this a reality. Guest written by Claire Thomas, Chatham University student and GASP Intern