Pennsylvania’s environmental justice program was created before the state’s fracking boom began. So none of the state’s more than 10,000 shale gas wells were ever subject to it. Some environmentalists think it’s time that changes.
The EPA’s Environmental Justice office is meant to defend communities that face a disproportionate share of the effects of pollution. But the office’s funding could be cut entirely in President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal.
If you believe your health has been, or could be, impacted by industry pollution, one place to start is this organization. Staffed with doctors, nurses and public health scientists, the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project helps people and communities protect themselves.
According to a new study, about 35 percent of kids who live near sources of pollution in Allegheny County have asthma. The national asthma rate is about 8 percent. The pollution, and the asthma it causes, have far-reaching consequences in a child’s life.
What do you do when you worry that pollution from a local industrial plant is making people in your town sick, and you want to do something about it? It can help to talk to someone who has been down that road. The Allegheny Front connected people from two Allegheny County communities in different stages of this shared experience, and sat in on their conversation.
Clairton sits in the shadow of US Steel's massive Clairton Coke Works. There's a growing concern among residents that the plant's emissions are causing asthma and cancer. But can a town prove that pollution is causing its health problems?
A research team at Carnegie Mellon is one year into a three-year project to help people in the Pittsburgh region learn more about pollutants they’re exposed to through the air. It’s funded through the EPA’s Air Pollution Monitoring for Communities program, and it was one of only six projects funded throughout the country.
