GASP’s resident smoke reader and longtime project manager Sue Seppi snapped into action, reviewing Breathe Cam footage of the facility, noting that thick black smoke and flames were visible around 10:15 a.m. that Thursday, Aug. 19. Then on Saturday and Tuesday, the Mon Valley experienced two more exceedances of Pennsylvania’s 24-hour standard of 0.005 ppm for hydrogen sulfide (AKA H2S, also known by its pungent rotten-egg odor). That makes 35 such exceedance at the Liberty monitor so far this year. There have been 12 others in North Braddock. These two latest incidents again underscore the need for local and federal regulators to be transparent with the public about what exactly is going on at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works in general and its Edgar Thomson plant specifically. “The Coke Works was the subject of an H2S-related enforcement action just this past April, while it’s been almost four years since the EPA and ACHD initiated enforcement action against the company for ongoing emissions issues at the Braddock facility,” GASP Executive Director Rachel Filippini said. “Despite these ongoing and sometimes high-profile incidents, regulators have remained tight-lipped while residents continue to suffer from malodors and more.” What *do* we know about what happened with this latest incident at Edgar Thomson? Only what WESA reported on Friday after seeing one of GASP’s tweet about the matter and asking some questions to U.S. Steel and ACHD: “Unfortunately, this lack of transparency has been par for the course when it comes to incidents at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson plant. The public is still waiting to know what happened with a 2017 Notice of Violation filed against the company by the health department and the EPA,” Filippini said. “That was supposed to be the first step in the process of getting the facility back into compliance with air quality regulations, but residents have heard nothing since then.” Hundreds of residents last year joined GASP in demanding ACHD release a substantive public update regarding what upgrades, maintenance, and management changes, and fines U.S. Steel would be facing. A health department official at the time said in an email response to the Post-Gazette: “Due to [the] current case initiated and ongoing by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency involving U.S. Steel in which the Allegheny County Health Department is a co-plaintiff, ACHD will not be commenting on this matter.” So we hope you will join us now in calling for transparency and accountability when it comes to the Mon Valley’s most egregious air polluter and sign our petition to the EPA. “How many more incidents do we have to deal with before we get some answers?” Filippini asked. “Nearly four years is far too long to keep the public in the dark about something that impacts people’s health and quality of life.” #H2S #USSteel #hydrogensulfideexceedance #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #EdgarThomsonPlant #ACHD #ClairtonCokeWorks #MonValleyWorks

Good news: Changes to local air pollution regulations aimed at reducing particulate matter in the Mon Valley during periods of stagnant weather patterns – which are often a driver of subpar air quality and exceedances of state and federal standards – are one step closer to final approval. Allegheny County Council on Tuesday referred the measure to the Health and Human Services Committee for a recommendation. For those who might not be familiar: The proposed reg will require facilities in the defined Mon Valley area that produce more than 6.5 tons of pm2.5 annually and/or more than 10 tons of pm10 annually to create and submit to ACHD “Mitigation Plans” for periods when poor air quality is forecast. ACHD predicts this will affect 18 facilities in the 32 listed municipalities. During the “Watch” phase, facilities such as U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works must conduct basic checks to ensure equipment is in good working order but also ensure they have adequate staff to take actions required under the “Warning” phase. Once a “Warning” is issued, facilities must undertake the actions listed in the mitigation plans they filed with ACHD. The particular actions will be specific to each facility and approved on a case-by-case basis. The bulk of the regulation addresses industrial sources of particulate matter pollution, but the proposed change will also ban all wood-burning activities when a Mon Valley Air Pollution Watch or Warning has been issued in the defined municipalities. “As we’ve expressed in the past: This new rule is by no means everything we’d hoped it would be but moving forward is better than stagnating on this front,” Filippini said. “We have to start somewhere because these poor-air episodes happen too often and impact the health of far too many right here right now.  The proof will be in the specific mitigation actions proposed by affected industries and if they are robustly enforced.” #AlleghenyCountyCouncil #alleghenycountyairquality #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #episodicairpollutionregulations #ACHD

Vintage photographs like these capture the way intense smog blotted out the sun on all-too-many Pittsburgh mornings. Members of GASP (and those who follow us) have heard plenty about the ways in which regional air quality has been impacted by industrial bad actors like U.S. Steel and its Mon Valley Works facilities. As an air quality watchdog group from way back (1969, to be exact), GASP has been witness to decades of drama between the steel-making giant and the government agencies tasked with regulating it. We helped lead the charge against U.S. Steel and other polluters when their smokestacks belched out so much air pollution that Pittsburgh was famously referred to as “hell with the lid off.” We were there in the 1970s when a killer inversion prompted the first of what would be decades of discussion about the need to mitigate air pollution during episodic weather events. Fast forward to 2019, and GASP was among those demanding answers in the wake of a Christmas Eve fire that ripped through U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, knocking out air pollution-control devices for more than three months (and all the things that followed *that*). GASP was NOT there, however, for the U.S. Steel origin story – during those first days and decades of the company’s presence here in our region. And that’s a story worth learning about and better understanding. That’s why we’re honored to co-sponsor an event that explores the relationship between Pittsburgh, U.S. Steel, and the people and places that have figured prominently in the past 120 years of the company’s existence. So please mark your calendars for, “Community Voices: Pittsburgh, the United States Steel Corporation, and 120 Years of Extraction” from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 7. The virtual event will feature the work of our friend Chie Togami, a University of Pittsburgh World History Center Graduate Student Assistant in Public History. Chie will lead a virtual presentation and conversation about her three-part podcast series, “Extraction,” which explores the “world-historical connections between Pittsburgh, the U.S. Steel Corporation, and people and places around the world that have figured deeply into the legacy of this transnational corporation.” “The roots of this project began with my own embodied experience with air quality, and my quest to understand how, in the year 2021, a corporation like U.S. Steel could continue to poison an entire region,” Chie said. “As activists, we often hear the phrase ‘all systems of oppression are connected.’ As this project shows, a major reason why air pollution is such an intractable issue is that it is inseparable from a host of historic and contemporary systems of injustice–from peonage to white supremacy, to imperialism, to capitalism.” The event will feature a panel of local activists featured in the podcast. You can get more details and register for the Oct. 7 event. #airpollution #UniversityofPittsburghWorldHistoryCenter #USSteel #UnitedStatesSteelCorp #Pittsburghairquality #ChieTogami #alleghenycountyairquality

Media Contact: Amanda Gillooly GASP Communications Manager amanda@gasp-pgh.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GASP Announces Hiring of New Executive Director The air quality watchdog organization’s new leader started work earlier this month. PITTSBURGH – The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) is delighted to announce that it has hired Patrick Campbell as its new executive director. Campbell’s tenure as the air quality watchdog’s new leader started earlier this month and coincides with the exit of GASP’s longtime executive director, Rachel Filippini. Before joining GASP, Campbell worked at another southwestern Pennsylvania environmental nonprofit that focused on community organizing, education, and public safety concerns around unconventional oil and gas development. Previously, he served as pastor of a United Church of Christ congregation in western North Carolina before returning to the Pittsburgh region when his wife took a job at the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development as a development healthcare consultant for the HealthyCHILD program. Campbell received a master of divinity from Wake Forest University and a bachelor of science from Mercyhurst University. GASP President Jonathan Nadle said the nonprofit is fortunate to have such a well-qualified leader taking the reins. “Patrick has an impressive background working with people and on environmental issues. He has calm competence, and a willingness to listen and make informed decisions we feel will serve GASP well in our second half-century of air quality advocacy,” he said. “We welcome Patrick and look forward to seeing where he will help lead us!” “I am incredibly honored to serve as GASP’s new executive director. GASP has been around for more than 50 years, playing a vital role in protecting the environment and public health all while holding both polluters and regulators accountable,” Campbell said. “I look forward to working with our board, staff, and members to not only continue our crucial legal, watchdog, and policy work but to expand it. It’s imperative for us to continue to lend our voice, our expertise, and our platform to the people and organizations that need it most and I look forward to doing just that.” The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), a non-profit founded in 1969, works to improve air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania in order to safeguard human, environmental, and economic health. GASP is a diligent watchdog, educator, litigator, and policy-maker on a variety of air quality issues impacting our region. ### #airpollution #airquality #JonathanNadle #PatrickCampbell

After earning a bachelor of science degree in marriage and family studies from Mercyhurst College, the Butler High School graduate decided that four years enduring Erie winters was enough, and opted to pursue his master’s degree at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. After earning his master of divinity in 2013, Patrick went to work as the pastor at Peace Church in Hickory, NC – a small, progressive congregation he said had “a history of advocacy.” While it was on the verge of having to shutter its doors when Patrick took the reins, that wouldn’t happen on his watch. In fact, the opposite occurred: Not only did the church survive, but it began to thrive. His first mission: To help the church find its identity as a place where all are welcome at a time when marriage equality was under attack. Two years later, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all bans on same-sex marriages, Patrick became one of the first local pastors to officiate them. But that’s not all: He helped the church build a website, create a logo and social media presence. He helped form an environmental justice committee at the church and led the congregation through a series of initiatives with a clear goal: How to create a more just and compassionate community. Through Patrick’s leadership, Peace Church started a recycling program and the congregation began thinking more critically about how they could be a better steward of the 10 acres of land on which their house of worship is situated. By 2020, Patrick and his wife decided to move back to southwestern Pennsylvania. He knew that he wanted to use his education and experience to help effect change at a nonprofit organization, ultimately taking a job at another southwestern Pennsylvania environmental nonprofit that focused on community organizing, education, and public safety concerns around unconventional oil and gas development. His skill set and environmental advocacy were a perfect fit, which was no surprise for Patrick, who grew up camping and enjoying the great outdoors with his family. “My Dad was really good at teaching me to love nature and to take care of it,” he said. “When you’re outside you learn that human beings are a part of nature and we must play a much more responsible part.” Now, he’s using his passion to help GASP not only continue the legal, watchdog, and advocacy work people have come to expect from us over the past 52 years, but to elevate it. “It’s exciting that GASP has this stellar reputation and history. The past has given us these incredible shoulders to stand on,” Patrick said. “It’s so important that we continue to work with those who are most vulnerable leveraging our voice and our platform.” Patrick replaces our longtime executive director Rachel Filippini, whose last day is Sept. 30. “Patrick has an impressive background working with people and on environmental issues. He has calm competence, and a willingness to listen and make informed decisions we feel will serve GASP well in our second half-century of air quality advocacy,” GASP President Jonathan Nadle said. “We welcome Patrick and look forward to seeing where he will help lead us!” Please join us in welcoming Patrick to the GASP family. He can be reached at patrick@gasp-pgh.org. #JonathanNadle #airpollution #AlleghenyCounty #PatrickCampbell #ACHD #airquality

So, did you smell it yesterday – that all-too-familiar stench of rotten eggs? Because Wednesday marked the 37th day in 2021 that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels exceeded the state air quality standard at Allegheny County Health Department’s air quality monitor in Liberty Borough. Little background: Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas that’s recognizable by its rotten-egg odor. It’s a stench our friends in the Mon Valley (and those downwind of it) endure way too often. The 24-hour average Wednesday was 0.008 ppm, exceeding Pennsylvania’s limit of 0.005 ppm, according to preliminary data. There have also been 12 such H2S exceedances at ACHD’s air quality monitor in North Braddock. “We think it’s important to remember that while U.S. Steel has suggested area sewage treatment plants are to blame for the Mon Valley’s H2S problem, its Clairton Coke Works was the lead emitter of hydrogen sulfide in Pennsylvania every year from 2010 to 2019,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “While past results certainly aren’t a guarantee of future performance, we have no reason to doubt this trend has continued.” We know we might sound like a broken record, but GASP is AGAIN calling on ACHD to publicly address the exceedances, what’s causing them, and what’s being done to stop them from happening in the future. #H2S #H2Sexceedance #hydrogensulfide #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ACHD #airquality

Get to know GASP’s longtime mascot Dirty Gertie the Poor Polluted Birdie and her friend and puppeteer Dave English in this recent interview with the Saturday Light Brigade. The pair talks about local air quality and the impact air pollution has on human (and bird) health in advance of one of GASP’s recent Clean Air Fair events. You can listen to the interview here. #CleanAirFair #DaveEnglish #DirtyGertie

From time to time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revises the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (also known as NAAQS) for ozone or oxides of nitrogen, a precursor of ozone. When EPA revises a NAAQS for ozone, states with areas that do not attain the newly revised standard must evaluate major sources of oxides of nitrogen – also referred to as NOx – to determine that the emission controls in place at such sources within nonattainment areas meet what’s known as Reasonably Available Control Technology, or RACT, standard set forth in section 172 of the Clean Air Act. At this point, you may be asking, “Why is ozone concerning?” According to the EPA, ozone is the main ingredient of smog. Ozone irritates the lungs and can cause or contribute to breathing problems, especially in people with asthma and other lung diseases.  High ozone levels can also harm certain plants, including tree species native to Pennsylvania. But now let’s get back to RACT: Because all areas of Pennsylvania are included in the Ozone Transport Region created by section 184 of the Clean Air Act, Pennsylvania must re-evaluate RACT for all of its major sources of NOx any time the NAAQS for ozone is revised. What is RACT? EPA defines RACT to be “the lowest emission limitation that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of control technology that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility.” Also according to the EPA, a determination of “economic feasibility” is not based on a source’s ability to afford to install and operate a particular emission control, but rather on evidence that similar sources in fact use the control. A state may implement RACT either on a case-by-case basis or by a generally applicable regulation. Here’s where things get a little more complicated: In 2008, the EPA revised the NAAQS for ozone. Pennsylvania is still working on getting its RACT re-evaluations right to meet that standard. And here’s another thing: When the EPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) developed rules to implement RACT for the 2008 ozone standard, they acquiesced to the operators of coal-fired electric generating units that are equipped with selective catalytic reducers (SCRs) by coming up with a regulation that set limits on the plants’ NOx emissions high enough that such plants did not need to run their SCRs to meet the limit. Selective catalytic reducers control NOx emissions effectively but are costly to run once they are installed, so operators of plants that are equipped with them have resisted requirements that they be operated at all times. Last August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit struck that regulation down in Sierra Club v. EPA, 972 F.3d 290. “In Sierra Club, the court determined that an emission limit for NOx that was lower than the one set by the regulation was both economically and technically achievable because selective catalytic reducer-equipped Pennsylvania plants themselves – as well as SCR-equipped plants in nearby states –  regularly achieved lower NOx emission rates,” GASP senior staff attorney John Baillie explained. He continued: “In the order following its decision, the court required DEP and EPA to re-evaluate RACT limits for the coal plants’ NOx emissions so that those limits would satisfy the Clean Air Act’s RACT standard.” There are at least five coal-fired electric generating units that are equipped with selective catalytic reducers still operating in Pennsylvania: Cheswick Generating Station in Allegheny County Conemaugh Generating Station in Indiana County Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County Keystone Generating Station in Indiana County and TalenEnergy Montour in Montour County. Although these plants are some of the largest NOx emitters in the state, Pennsylvania is only now properly applying RACT to them in the wake of the Sierra Club decision and order: Notice of the first re-evaluated RACT determination for one of these plants – the Keystone Station – was published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Sept. 11. Since then, DEP has also published re-evaluations for the Conemaugh Station (on Oct. 2), and the Homer City Station (on Oct. 16). In those notices, DEP has proposed to decrease the allowable rates of the plants’ NOx emissions, which are expressed in terms of pounds per million British thermal units (which is written like this: lb/MMBtu) on a daily average basis. “All operating conditions” include: emissions during start-up, shut-down, and malfunction operation pursuant to emergency generation required by [the grid operator] including any necessary testing for such emergency operations and during periods in which compliance with this emission limit would require operation of any equipment in a manner inconsistent with technological limitations, good engineering and maintenance practices, and/or good air pollution control practices for minimizing emissions. The subsection in the regulation that imposed the 0.012 lb/MMBtu limit that was struck down by the Sierra Club Court does not, on its face, permit any such exceptions, but another regulation allows sources to apply for authorization of “source-specific RACT” for facilities that are unable to comply with RACT limits. Data from EPA’s Air Markets Program Database for the first six months of 2021 shows that these plants’ NOx emissions regularly exceeded the rates allowable under “normal operating conditions” and sometimes exceeded the rates allowable under “all conditions.” Possibly, this is because the plants are still formally subject to the 0.12 lbs/MMBtu limit and not required to operate their selective catalytic reducers. The proposed new limit should mean that the plants will be required to operate them going forward, which would help reduce ozone pollution in Pennsylvania and neighboring states. “Thirteen years after the NAAQS for ozone was revised in 2008, some of the largest sources of ozone-causing NOx emissions in the state will finally be regulated properly,” Baillie said. “It’s also entirely possible that further emission reductions could be on the way: Pennsylvania has yet to implement RACT for the 2015 revisions to the NAAQS for ozone. Let’s hope it takes DEP fewer than 13 years to get it right this next time.” #DepartmentofEnvironmentalProtection #NAAQS #airpollution #RACT #NOx #selectivecatalyticreducers #EPA #ozone

We just wanted to put out a gentle reminder: American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funds are now available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for electric school bus rebates as part of an effort to address disproportionate environmental or public health harms and risks to children in 20 Pennsylvania school districts. But the deadline to apply is quickly approaching. Here’s what you need to know: The 2021 ARP Electric School Bus Rebates offers $7 million to eligible school districts and private fleet owners for the replacement of old diesel school buses with new electric ones. Selected applicants that scrap and replace their old diesel buses with new electric buses will receive a rebate of $300,000 per bus. School districts must apply for the funds no later than 4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 5. Eligibility requirements must be met for school districts to apply for the ARP electric school bus rebates; visit:  ARP Electric School Bus Rebates Eligibility List. The School Districts in Pennsylvania that are eligible to apply for the ARP electric school bus rebates include: Aliquippa School District Brownsville Area School District Clairton City School District Duquesne City School District Erie City School District PA Farrell Area School District Greater Johnstown School District Hanover Area School District Jeannette City School District New Kensington-Arnold School District Sto-Rox School District Wilkinsburg Borough School District “So many recent health studies agree: Dirty diesel school bus emissions are harmful to our kids’ health because their lungs aren’t fully mature, which makes them more sensitive to the impacts of air pollution,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “We hope local, eligible school districts will jump at the opportunity to apply for this grant program.” For more information visit https://www.epa.gov/dera/2021-american-rescue-plan-arp-electric-school-bus-rebates #ARPElectricSchoolBusRebates #dieselemissions #electricschoolbus

Breathe Project in responding to bombshell media reports published in Allegheny Front and Public Source Friday analyzing court documents that show that U.S. Steel allowed its Mon Valley operations to fall into disrepair at the expense of the health of local residents. You can – and should – read the series (links to all of them are at the bottom of this story), which sheds more light on what exactly caused the 2018 Christmas Eve fire that left the Clairton Coke Works without key air pollution controls for three months. The authors lay out documents that show how the 2018 fire itself started after a series of malfunctioning pieces of equipment and that equipment appeared not to be getting inspected regularly. Another thing the two news publications focused on: Depositions of key Allegheny County Health Department staff that show “ACHD increasingly distrusted U.S. Steel to make decisions in the public interest or even be honest with them,” Public Source reporter Oliver Morrison noted in a series of tweets about the project. The stories also detail the human toll this took on the surrounding communities, noting studies that detailed how the fire helped spur a spike in hospitalizations, emergency visits, and medicine use among Mon Valley asthma sufferers. These findings, unfortunately, confirm what GASP and others have long suspected. Back in 2019, we examined a federal class-action lawsuit filed against U.S. Steel on behalf of its investors. That lawsuit included testimony from current and former U.S. Steel employees who described systemic maintenance and operational failures. “GASP’s analysis showed the company was struggling to comply with air emissions standards during the same time the plaintiffs alleged U.S. Steel asked employees to ‘jury rig’ machines and generally operated with a ‘don’t buy, get by’ mentality,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “These findings make it clear where U.S. Steel’s priorities lie, and it’s not with the residents who live nearby or their employees.” He added: “U.S. Steel is and has always been a company that puts profits above people. And that’s had a human toll – something made clear by recent health studies.” Residents who’ve long been impacted by air pollution from the Mon Valley Works were furious at the news. “The fact that harm to health is overshadowed by the industry’s gains is repulsive,” Clairton resident Melanie Meade said. “Children with poor education, poor food, and environmental pollution are suffering when the industry can change its operations and infrastructure to create a better environment. There has never been continuous improvement in Clairton and the lives lost proves it.” North Braddock resident Edith Abeyta concurred. “U.S Steel’s neglect and its preference for profits over people has come to light,” she said. “It’s time they take care of the damage they have done to the community and their workers.” Meanwhile, despite the severe neglect documented at the Clairton plant leading to the explosion and fire, U.S. Steel recorded hefty profits during 2018 and used the money to buy back shares instead of investing in the plant to fix problems. For curious minds that want to know: U.S. Steel posted full-year 2018 net earnings of $1.115 billion and spent $75 million in repurchasing shares. Also worth noting is that these investigative reports came amidst a November dominated by abysmal air, with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) AirNow.com site ranking Liberty-Clairton area’s air quality among the worst in the nation on 19 days this month. The area also experienced an exceedance of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), according to initial data. Additionally, our region’s air has violated the state’s hydrogen sulfide (H2S) standard 46 times this year at the Liberty monitor – with the latest occurring just days after the reports were published. Editor’s Note: Here are links to the stories mentioned for those who would like to take a deeper dive. Corroded Equipment Led to Catastrophic Fire at U.S. Steel Plant, Court Documents Reveal, published by Allegheny Front The City of Prayer: Clairton’s Residents Persevere Amid Persistent Pollution and Violence, published by Public Source U.S. Steel Faces Lawsuit Alleging that Clairton Coke Works ‘Decrepit” Condition Continues to Enganger Mon Valley Residents, published by Public Source Special Report: U.S. Steel Investors Sue Company, Allege Systemic Maintenance Failures; Did Investors Uncover Intentional Acts that Threatened Local Air Quality, published by GASP in July 2019 #USSteel #LibertyMonitor #AlleghenyCounty #alleghenycountyairquality #emissions #AlleghenyCountyHealthDepartment #ClairtonCokeWorks #airquality