Asthma, dirty air and the struggle to clean up a chronic polluter

Reid FrazierDecember 7, 2018

After decades of pollution violations, will the Clairton Coke Works clean up it act? Some are cautiously optimistic.

Hazardous to Your HealthHealthPollution

Coal Country Students Look to Renewable Energy to Keep the Lights on at School

Benny BeckerMarch 23, 2018

These kids have ambitions to change the future of energy in the coalfields.

EconomyEnergy

Turns Out Air Pollution Makes for Good Listening

Kara HolsoppleMarch 16, 2018

The Pittsburgh-based Group Against Smog and Pollution has just dropped the first episode of their podcast "On the Air."

CulturePollutionYour Environment Update

Fines for Two Deaths at Power Plant

Reid FrazierMarch 7, 2018

Last August, two men died after inhaling a toxic gas in a confined vault inside the plant. The Department of Labor has now fined the two companies responsible for their deaths.

Energy

Coke Plant Agrees to $1.5 Million Penalty for Air Pollution in Western Pa. Community

Reid FrazierDecember 20, 2017

In a settlement filed Wednesday in federal court in Pittsburgh, ArcelorMittal agreed to pay $1.5 million to state and federal regulators, and donate $300,000 to a local charity to implement clean air programs.

Pollution

Two Dead and Four Injured at Pittsburgh-area Coal Plant Accident

Reid FrazierAugust 30, 2017

Two workers died and four others were injured in an accident at a Pittsburgh-area coal-fired power plant late Tuesday. Kevin Patrick Bachner, 34, and John Mi...

Energy

How One Woman Took On Shell to Save Her Louisiana Town

Reid FrazierApril 7, 2017

It's not every day that a major corporation agrees to move an entire community out of the path of pollution from one of its facilities. But a retired Louisiana school teacher was able to get Shell to do just that.

Environmental JusticeThe Coming Chemical Boom

This is Exactly How Natural Gas Gets Turned Into Plastics

Reid FrazierApril 7, 2017

Our energy reporter Reid Frazier digs into how Shell's new ethane cracker will turn natural gas into one of the building blocks of modern life.

EnergyThe Coming Chemical Boom

The Science of Making Rain

Steven JacksonSeptember 16, 2016

Yes—we can actually make it rain. But scientists are split on how effective the practice of cloud seeding really is.

Technology

Why Methane is Such a Potent Greenhouse Gas

Reid FrazierJuly 8, 2016

For all the attention carbon dioxide gets in the conversation about climate change, methane is up to 100 times more powerful a greenhouse gas. And the reason why has a lot to do with how it absorbs sunlight.

Climate Change