The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced the launch of the Community, Equity & Resiliency initiative, a groundbreaking effort to help communities across the nation navigate EPA's Inflation Reduction Act investments and other new funding opportunities. Through this new initiative, EPA's Office of Air and Radiation and Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will facilitate community-driven partnerships and provide a space for communities to learn, connect, and cultivate ideas on how to access historic resources, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities. "Thanks to President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, we now have the largest investments in climate action and environmental justice in U.S. history," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement. "The Community, Equity & Resiliency initiative will provide a roadmap to help communities navigate the Inflation Reduction Act and other new Investing in America funding opportunities from EPA, as we work to meet people where they are." GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said the EPA should be applauded for the new initiative. "The federal infrastructure and jobs bills have made available unprecedented amounts of money to municipalities,” he said. “It's crucial that as many leaders as possible take advantage of these opportunities to help make their communities healthier and safer places to live." As part of the initiative, EPA will host live virtual and in-person events, including panel discussions and fireside chats featuring environmental leaders and their peers, to help community-based organizations, their community partners, and potential grant applicants navigate funding opportunities. These engagements are designed to spark ideas on how to take advantage of Investing in America programs while taking into account each community's unique context when confronting the climate crisis and advancing environmental and climate justice. EPA's new Community, Equity & Resiliency website offers information on multiple funding opportunities and resources to ensure community-driven partnerships can inspire meaningful change in their communities. To learn more about the effort, visit EPA's new Community, Equity & Resiliency webpage. On Nov. 6, EPA will kick off the Community, Equity & Resiliency initiative with a National Virtual Open House that is open to the public. This six-day event will include a series of virtual panels and fireside chats featuring prominent environmental leaders and peers discussing their ideas to overcome environmental pollution and climate change challenges through funding opportunities that are available through the Inflation Reduction Act and other programs under the President's Investing in America agenda. Panel and fireside chat topics will include climate change in rural communities, green jobs, electric vehicle infrastructure, technical assistance, and more. Register here for the National Virtual Open House Upcoming Regional Roadshows But wait, there’s more: Starting this winter, EPA will also host in-person, community-based Regional Roadshow events. These will provide opportunities for community leaders to develop or leverage existing community-based partnerships and dream and cultivate ideas on the Inflation Reduction Act and other new Investing in America programs. Editor’s Note: More details on the Regional Roadshow will be available soon - we will keep you posted.

GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell on Wednesday implored members of the Allegheny County Board of Health to use their authority to task Air Quality Program leadership with developing a crisis communications plan for when permitted facilities experience outages and/or fires that impact - or are reasonably expected to impact - our ambient air. Campbell also reiterated GASP’s call for the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to convene long-dormant subcommittees dedicated to air quality monitoring as well as pollution prevention and education. GASP began calling for ACHD’s Air Quality Program leadership to create such a crisis communications plan in the wake of high-profile events at two permitted facilities this year - one at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works (an outage that necessitated flaring) and the other at Metalico Recycling (a raging fire that caused massive plumes of smoke and major public outcry). Here are his full comments: 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 region’s air quality since 1969. Over the years there have been numerous high-profile air quality emergencies at facilities permitted by ACHD that fouled our local air quality. The most recent example is the September fire at Metalico Recycling on Neville Island. Noxious emissions from those events impacted - and frankly, frightened - folks across the county. Yet, information about these incidents and the emissions they created was hard to come by in real-time. To our dismay, in many of these situations, the Allegheny County Health Department’s messaging was late and inadequate, noting only that a fire occurred and that PM2.5 levels did not exceed regulatory limits. But this lack of real-time, health-based messaging is just one symptom of ACHD’s transparency sickness. GASP has also noted a steady decrease in access to real communication with ACHD leadership and staff over the past year. Specifically, we’ve noted fewer opportunities for residents to interact with ACHD to discuss air quality issues - two of three subcommittees of the Air Advisory Board have failed to convene for MONTHS. To build trust with residents, ACHD must increase transparency, which is why GASP is calling on Air Quality Program leadership to convene existing subcommittee meetings to provide opportunities for residents to interact with the Air Quality Program for updates and discussion about everything from monitoring projects and regulations in the works to public education and outreach initiatives. We again implore you to use your authority as members of the Board of Health to task ACHD with creating a crisis communications plan and articulate how it will alert residents via the Allegheny Alert system and social media platforms during fires, outages, or other emergencies at a permitted facility that has - or can reasonably be expected - to impact local air quality and public health. Thank you. GASP will keep you posted on all this. In the meantime, here’s what else happened at the meeting: ACHD Interim Director Patrick Dowd provided the board with several air quality-related updates. Here’s what we learned by attending the meeting: The Air Quality Program will be moving its offices from the Clack Campus in Lawrenceville to a new location on Fulton Street in the North Side. ACHD has issued more than 700 asbestos permit inspections so far this year. More than 500 asbestos permits have been issued since the beginning of the year. ACHD recently debuted a new emissions inventory dashboard that the county issued a press release about 30 minutes prior to the BOH meeting. You can read that press release here. The department also made upgrades to its legal docket software, which can be viewed here.

Today, GASP is extending a hearty THANK YOU to all who attended our recent Safe at Home: Understanding Common Environmental Hazards lunch-and-learn program. We also wanted to give a huge shoutout to our amazing panelists Heath Papinchak of Welcome Home, Home Inspections; Nesta Bortey-Sam of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and Rhett Major, The Energy Doctor. And we also wanted to let folks know that while the event may be over, GASP still has LOADS of helpful resources on our website related to all things indoor air quality - from actionable info on asbestos abatement to helpful resources about radon testing and remediation. We’ll keep you posted on our upcoming events, but in the meantime bookmark our calendar and blog for updates.

Did you hear? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched "My Electric Ride: An EV Transportation Video Challenge," an exciting prize competition that encourages people to share their personal experiences with electric transportation. The challenge aims to showcase the real-world experiences of those who use electrified transportation in everyday life and help inform the public about more sustainable transportation. Interested participants are asked to submit a short (one- to two-minute) video for a chance to win up to $3,000. Participants can submit videos in one of three categories: • Personal Mobility: Electric two- and three-wheel personal mobility devices such as e-bikes, e-trikes, e-scooters, or e-cargo bikes. • Electric Vehicles: Electric vehicles such as cars, trucks, or SUVs. • Electric Buses: Electric buses such as school buses, shuttle buses, or transit buses. The videos will be judged on their creativity, originality, and effectiveness in conveying the positive aspects of electric transportation. EPA will select up to nine winning videos, with each category having a first--, second-, and third-place winner. Selected videos may be featured on EPA's website and social media channels. Information about the video challenge and instructions on how to submit a video can be found on the EV Transportation Video Challenge webpage. Submissions are due by Jan. 23. By way of background: The transportation sector is currently the largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. Electrifying transportation is key to a more sustainable future by moving people and goods more efficiently. With their increased energy efficiency and zero tailpipe emissions, electric vehicles (including battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles) can help improve air quality in communities and lower total GHG emissions.

In our annual updates about the Title V Operating Permit programs at the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), we have written about Eastman Chemical’s facility in Jefferson Hills and the ongoing failure to issue a Title V Operating Permit to it (background: although an application for such a permit was submitted in early 2022, the permit has not yet been issued). First, we have learned that the facility has a new owner – it also appears that in early 2022 the facility (as well as the rest of Eastman Chemical’s adhesive resins business line) was acquired by Synthomer, Plc., a multi-national firm based in the United Kingdom. So, going forward, we will be referring to Synthomer’s facility in Jefferson Hills when we write about it. Second: We have a bit of good news about the Synthomer facility. Recently, Synthomer applied for an installation permit that would authorize it to replace ammonia with sodium hydroxide in the thermal oxidizer that it uses to control emissions of oxide of nitrogen (NOx) from one of the facility’s manufacturing processes. According to Synthomer’s permit application, testing shows this substitution will reduce NOx emissions from the thermal oxidizer by about 13%, or potentially a little less than 3.5 tons per year. “This is not a huge reduction in emissions,” GASP’s Senior Attorney John Baillie said, “But less pollution is always good news.” Copies of the draft installation permit and ACHD’s review memorandum are available here. ACHD will accept comments on the draft permit through Nov. 14.

If you stepped outside this week in the Mon Valley, took a deep breath, and promptly asked yourself, “What is that STENCH?” we’ve identified a likely culprit: Concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) that exceeded Pennsylvania’s 24-hour standard on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today at the Allegheny County Health Department’s (ACHD) air quality monitors in Liberty and North Braddock. If you also asked yourself: Is the stench dangerous? Where is the stench coming from? And what’s being done to stop the stench? You’ve got a lot of great questions, and we have answers. As one user of the CREATE Lab’s SmellPGH app put it, the air yesterday morning near Clairton had an unmistakable “sulfur/chemical/tar/burning” odor to it. Well said, and typical for other reports on the app since Monday. But is that offensive, rotten-egg odor dangerous? Sort of. At levels thousands of times higher than occur locally, H2S is highly toxic, but even exposure to the levels of H2S we see in the Mon Valley can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, or throat and has been linked to headaches, poor memory, tiredness, and balance problems according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Low concentrations of H2S may also cause difficulty in breathing for some asthmatics. That is one reason why GASP has continued to sound the alarm on this issue. Another reason is that the source of H2S locally – by and large – is steelmaking, an industrial process that has been polluting the air locally pretty much since steelmaking began. Of course, we should mention that there are natural sources of H2S. It can be emitted from volcanoes, stagnant ponds, and pretty much anything in nature decomposing. But the state Department of Environmental Protection emissions inventory shows U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works emitted – on average – more than 120 tons of H2S annually from 2010 to 2020, making it the largest stationary source in the state. There is also a 2022 ACHD study that concluded, “based on all available data and resources, H2S exceedances that occurred at the Liberty site during the period of January 1, 2020, through March 1, 2022, can be attributed entirely to emissions originating at US Steel’s Clairton coking facility.” As we said, it could be volcanoes and sewage, but it’s not volcanoes and sewage, and efforts meant to improve the situation have focused on steelmaking. Settlement Agreements between U.S. Steel and air quality regulators related to emissions issues at the company’s Clairton Coke Works and Edgar Thomson facilities could and should have stemmed the tide of H2S exceedances at ACHD’s air quality monitors in the Mon Valley. The 2019 Clairton settlement mandated upgrades and educational programs designed to reduce fugitive emissions, a concerning source of H2S. The agreement also tacked on additional fines for on-site violations that occur on days when H2S exceeds the state standard. In 2022, just days after ACHD published the study mentioned above, ACHD issued a $1.8 million enforcement order against U.S. Steel over the H2S emissions issue. The company appealed the order and the case is ongoing. Later in 2022, the Consent Decree ACHD and the EPA entered into with U.S. Steel to resolve longstanding emissions issues at the Edgar Thomson facility directed the company to begin “feeding an oxidizing chemical additive or additives such as, but not limited to, potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide into the Slag Pit quench water spray system, to enhance suppression of H2S emissions.” That’s not all: The agreement also required U.S. Steel to submit to the EPA and ACHD for approval of written procedures for the slag pit that detail actions being taken to “minimize or prevent the evolution of H2S.” In spite of all that, H2S exceedances at ACHD’s air quality monitors in the Mon Valley are trending up, not down. But don’t take our word for it: The ACHD H2S dashboard shows there were 12 H2S exceedances at the North Braddock monitoring station in all of 2022; we've had 27 so far in 2023. The dashboard also shows that between both Mon Valley monitors combined, we've had 101 exceedances so far this year. Over the same period last year, we only had 76. If now you’re asking yourself, “Are you kidding me?” with maybe an extra unprintable word between you and kidding, we understand, but this time we don’t have an answer. And that is itself a big problem. We wish we could tell you more about those written procedures for the Slag Pit quench water spray system at Edgar Thomson, the procedures meant intended to suppress H2S exceedances like the ones we’ve seen this week in the Mon Valley. But we can’t. That’s because ACHD has failed to provide a public update about how - or whether - U.S. Steel has abided by the provisions of the high-profile consent agreement (you can read more about that here). The same goes for emissions issues at the Clairton Coke Works. We hope the agreement is progressing as written, but we need County and ACHD leadership to provide substantive public updates on these agreements and any progress made toward the emissions-reduction goals in them. The reason we need to hear from ACHD leadership is that ACHD has been limiting opportunities for residents to ask questions and provide ACHD input on their experiences with air pollution and their needs from health officials. ACHD must be transparent with the community it’s charged with protecting. “As we’ve been saying for years: Residents’ repeated exposure to H2S and other industry-created air pollutants isn’t just a nuisance as ACHD leaders have suggested. It’s also a legitimate health concern,” Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “Unfortunately, ACHD Air Quality Program leadership have not only failed to resolve the longstanding issue despite high-profile legal agreements, they are now shutting down opportunities for residents impacted by these issues to interact with them in a public setting.” He added: “Residents deserve better. A continued lack of transparency and accountability isn’t tenable.” Editor’s Note: Please join GASP and fellow advocates at the upcoming Allegheny County Board of Health meeting to speak out about these transparency issues. Stay tuned for more info from GASP on this. In the meantime, save the date. Here’s what you need to know if you wanna join us.

GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell was among those who presented comments Wednesday to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regarding its newly unveiled Environmental Justice policy. Here's what he said during the virtual public hearing: 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 air quality since 1969. GASP applauds the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for instituting an updated Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy and is generally supportive of the agency’s approach. However, we believe the new policy would be more effective if DEP would determine how its permitting process can be made more transparent and open to public participation in general. Specifically, we believe DEP should - and could - include two additional measures in its new policy: First, DEP could make more - if not all - draft permits available online. Currently, residents interested in viewing those documents would need to make a public records request or participate in an informal file review. While lawyers and environmental advocates are well-versed in open records rules, DEP would be wise to recognize that this process can be a barrier to residents and their ability to participate in public hearings or via public comment. Second, the agency could identify what information it seeks from the public in its permitting decisions and then educate residents and encourage their participation in the process so that they can advocate for their communities by pushing for stronger environmental and public health protections. All too often, GASP has attended important public hearings regarding facility permits, policy updates, and regulation drafts that were sparsely attended by residents, despite having major environmental and public health implications in their hometowns. And all too often, the reason is because of a lack of awareness - not because of a lack of caring. We’re hopeful that improvements to the ways DEP communicates with and educates residents in environmental justice areas will help ensure that the Pennsylvanians most impacted by pollution have a real voice - a real seat at the table - when it comes to the policies, permitting, and regulation decisions that impact them and their communities. Thank you. Editor's Note: While the virtual hearing may be over, the deadline for residents to submit public comments on the new policy is not. If you haven't already, we encourage you to weigh in - we've made doing so as simple as possible. Check out our Cliffs Notes-style public comment guide and online form. Only takes a minute to share your experiences - promise!

Ahh, autumn in western Pennsylvania - a time to don cozy sweaters, peep colorful fall foliage, and enjoy all things pumpkin spice. But the crisp weather also ushers in serious seasonal foes: inversions and deteriorating indoor air quality. Our neighbors in the Mon Valley may be familiar with the term inversion, but for the uninitiated: A temperature inversion is an atmospheric condition where warm air lingers above cooler air, trapping air pollutants like fine particulate matter and hydrogen sulfide close to the ground. Our local topography - all those peaks and valleys - exacerbate air pollution episodes spurred by inversions and fueled by industrial emissions because those pollutants get trapped in lower-lying areas (like the Mon Valley), where inversions keep them from dispersing. What You Need to Know About Inversions Locally, we start experiencing inversions more frequently this time of year. Historically, VERY strong inversions have caused spiking concentrations of air pollution and associated malodor. In fact, these VERY strong inversions occur often enough that GASP and fellow air quality advocates pushed the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to formalize a Mon Valley Air Pollution Episode Rule that requires certain companies to take action to minimize emissions of fine particulate matter during these periods of poor air quality. The Mon Valley Air Pollution Episode Rule (which you can read all about here) also requires ACHD to issue public Alerts when a Mon Valley Air Pollution Watch or Warning is triggered. We encourage folks - especially those in the Mon Valley - to be air-aware this fall when it comes to inversions. You can do that by signing up for Mon Valley Air Pollution Episode Alerts here. Please also follow GASP on Twitter/X, Facebook, and Instagram, where we post real-time, actionable information to help you plan your day and mitigate your exposure to air pollutants. How's the Air In There? When we say be air-aware, that means indoor air, too. That’s why we thought now - when cooler weather forces us to close up those windows - we wanted to remind you of some of the most common air pollution pitfalls in your home, as well as some steps you can take to make sure you and yours can breathe healthier air there. Here’s the thing: Recent research has shown that indoor air quality can sometimes be more polluted than one might believe – in some cases more polluted than outdoor air. According to the EPA, Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. Many pollutants affecting indoor air quality come from sources inside the building themselves. This could include combustion sources like fireplaces, tobacco smoke, and cooking appliances. It could also originate from cleaning supplies, paints, and insecticides or from the degradation of old building materials or new materials that are off-gassing. We also know indoor air quality can become unhealthy due to outdoor sources of pollution finding their way inside our homes, schools, and office buildings. Outdoor air pollutants can enter buildings through open doors and windows, ventilation systems, and cracks in structures. Some pollutants come indoors through building foundations. Harmful smoke from chimneys and industrial sources can enter homes to pollute the air in the home and neighborhood. In areas with contaminated groundwater or soils, volatile chemicals can enter buildings through the same process. Fortunately, indoor air pollution concentrations from individual sources might not pose a serious health risk by themselves. Unfortunately, the majority of homes have more than one source contributing to indoor air pollution. “There can be a serious risk from the cumulative effects of these sources. Fortunately, there are steps that most people can take both to reduce the risk from existing sources and to prevent new problems from occurring,” the Environmental Protection Agency warns on its website. We’re talking more than radon and asbestos - we’re talking about other culprits such as dust, smoke, and the like. Don’t Forget About Those Filters So, when was the last time you changed your filters? You know, the ones that help keep your furnace and air conditioning systems clean? Do you know the state of your ductwork? Because know this: Having it cleaned can make a big difference, too. If you need some advice on best practices regarding filters and ductwork, the fine folks at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created this handy guide. What About Adding an Air Purifier? Perhaps the simplest way to rid your home of air pollutants is running an air purifier in the most-used areas of your living space. Air purifiers range in price and functionality, and there are even ways to create a DIY air purifier – one that requires only a box fan and a standard HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter. Pro Tip: HEPA filters run about $25-$35 and can be purchased at local hardware stores and on Amazon. Forget the Fireplace We know there are diehard fireplace aficionados out there, but we have to tell you: Homes with wood-burning fireplaces have elevated levels of indoor air pollution and you may be unwittingly impacting your neighborhood’s air quality too. Consider using your furnace instead of starting a fire and keep the air your family and your neighbors breathe a little cleaner. If you’re concerned about what’s in the air you’re breathing at home, then please check out Pittsburgh-based ROCIS (Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces), one of our partner organizations offering a number of helpful resources. Editor’s Note: For those interested, ROCIS will soon be starting its latest Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring Project. We highly recommend you check out the free opportunity. Here’s what you need to know.

Editor's Note: Good news! The DEP has extended the public comment period. This blog has been updated to reflect that new deadline of Nov. 30. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently debuted a new Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy intended “to facilitate environmental justice in communities across the Commonwealth and ensure equity and environmental justice.” For anyone not in the know, the term Environmental Justice describes the notion that Pennsylvania’s environmental regulation efforts should focus on reducing pollution in areas where poor and/or non-white people live because those communities are - or have been - subject to more pollution compared to wealthier and/or whiter communities. Little Bit of Background on PA’s New Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy First things first: The new policy unveiled on Sept. 16 does not alter any of DEP’s existing duties or modify any existing environmental laws or regulations. What the new policy does do is outline how DEP intends to: reach out proactively to environmental justice communities to encourage their participation in its permitting decisions for facilities that are likely to affect them prioritize the concept of environmental justice in its compliance and enforcement activities use grantmaking, brownfield redevelopment, and pollution mitigation projects to promote environmental justice. The new Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy replaces one that had been in effect since 2004 that defined environmental justice areas as municipalities, where at least 30% of the population was non-white or at least 20% of the population had a family income at or below the federal poverty line. “The old policy encouraged but did not require, applicants for certain environmental permits for facilities in or within one-half mile of an environmental justice area to take steps to promote community participation in permitting processes,” GASP senior attorney John Baillie explained. He continued: “To our knowledge, it is not clear how successful such efforts were - or even how success would have been measured - whether they affected permitting decisions in a positive way, or whether they contributed to reductions of pollution in environmental justice areas.” How Environmental Justice Areas are Determined in PA The new Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy uses an online mapping tool called PennEnviroScreen to assign a score to each census block in the Commonwealth. The scores are derived from points assigned based on myriad factors such as: Environmental Exposures, including exposure to ozone, fine particulate matter, diesel particulate matter, toxic air emissions, toxic water emissions, pesticides, vehicle emissions, compressor station emissions, and lead; Environmental Effects, including proximity to conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells, railroads, brownfields, and superfund sites, hazardous waste and storage sites, municipal waste sites, coal mines, and associated facilities, impaired lakes and streams, abandoned mines, and areas prone to flooding; Sensitive Populations, including the prevalence of people with asthma, cancer, disabilities, or heart disease, and people without health insurance; and Socioeconomic Factors, including the prevalence of people who are poor, unemployed, non-white, not English speakers, older than 64, or younger than 5, as well as people who did not graduate high school or attend school through ninth grade, and people who are both poor and housing-burdened (meaning, that they pay more than 50% of their monthly incomes for housing). The score assigned to a census block for any particular factor is not relative to an objective standard (like attainment of one of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards or NAAQS) but is relative to the condition that exists regarding that factor in all other census blocks. This means, for example, that census blocks with high ozone levels relative to other census blocks will receive high scores for ozone exposure even if they (and all other census blocks in the Commonwealth) attain the NAAQs for ozone. A census block with a score of more than 80 is designated as an environmental justice area. Some Need-to-Know Info About PA’s New Environmental Justice Policy There are a few things we think are worth noting about the new Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy: First, the environmental justice policy is premised on the idea that some communities do not receive the full benefit of environmental laws and regulations. DEP might serve such communities best by identifying which of its own regulations, policies, and practices contribute to the denial of environmental justice and fixing them. Second, because the scores assigned to census blocks by PennEnviroScreen are relative to the conditions that exist in other census blocks rather than to any objective standard, there will always be some high-scoring census blocks which means there will always be some environmental justice areas. This will be the case even if exposures to environmental threats in all areas of the Commonwealth are at levels thought to be safe. Third, the new policy deemphasizes the race and poverty of community members as factors in determining Environmental Justice areas. Going forward, DEP will use several additional factors that should cause it to move the focus of its outreach efforts to areas in which environmental threats are greatest. However, DEP would do well to determine how its permitting process can be made more transparent and open to public participation in general (perhaps by making more, if not all, draft permits available online, and identifying what information it seeks from the public in its permitting decisions) to encourage such participation from all communities in the Commonwealth and reap the benefits it provides. Fourth, the new policy only applies where DEP has regulatory authority, meaning in part, the policy will not apply to sources of air pollution in Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties, where many of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Justice communities are clustered. For those curious, Allegheny County identifies environmental justice areas using this index but has not adopted a formal policy like DEP’s. How to Weigh In The new Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy and related documents are available by following this link. Although the policy has been in effect since Sept. 16, DEP is accepting comments on it through Nov. 30. Editor’s Note: Stay tuned - GASP will have sample public comment language and an online form for you to easily speak out in this week’s Alert.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this summer proposed policy revisions that will impact coke-making operations including those at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works and Cleveland Cliffs’ coke ovens in Monessen - and is seeking public input from residents like you. Please join GASP in letting the EPA know that you support tighter regulations for steel-making facilities that will help improve air quality and public health, especially for our most vulnerable neighbors - older folks, children, and those with pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular issues that make them more susceptible to the impacts of industry-related air pollution. You can get the skinny on the proposed policy revisions from our senior attorney John Baillie here. GASP will be submitting formal comments that you can read here. But we also wanted to make it easy for residents to weigh in. So please fill out our form to share your personal experiences with industrial emissions from local air polluters like U.S. Steel and Cleveland Cliffs and let EPA know you support: Requirements that all coke-making facilities monitor benzene concentrations at four spots along their fencelines that operate continuously and report benzene concentrations that are averaged over two-week-long periods. The proposed reduction for the percentages of leaking coke oven doors, lids, and offtakes that are allowable under the current regulations, with the new limits being dependent upon the facility - the Clairton Coke Works will have stricter limits than all other facilities in the United States, as it should. The establishment of emission limits for six hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from battery stacks including hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen cyanide, and mercury at by-product recovery coke plants like those in Clairton and Monessen for which no such limits currently exist. Editor's Note: The public comment period is now closed.