Reid R. Frazier covers energy for The Allegheny Front. His work has taken him as far away as Texas and Louisiana to report on the petrochemical industry and as close to home as Greene County, Pennsylvania to cover the shale gas boom. His award-winning work has also aired on NPR, Marketplace and other outlets. Reid recently received a fellowship from MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative.
Metallurgical coal is used in steelmaking is a significant greenhouse gas polluter. Companies that mine metallurgical coal are now in line to receive a 2.5 percent tax credit.
If an appeal fails, the company may be required to remove the gas well in Elizabeth Township. One lawyer says the new legal approach could be applied to other municipalities.
Environmental groups want Nippon to clean up U.S. Steel's Mon Valley plants, which have racked up $64 million in fines and settlements in recent years.
DEP said benzene and another hazardous air pollutant could have been released during an explosion at Shell’s ethane cracker in Beaver County Wednesday afternoon.