Top News for Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania

Climate change, inversions, and the rise of “super pollution” air events

PITTSBURGH—Residents of the Mon Valley, a cluster of townships along the Monongahela River 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, endured some of the stinkiest and most polluted air in the nation this Christmas.

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No statistically significant relationship between shale gas and stream changes in state forest drilling areas

The U.S. Geological Survey released study results of 40 chemical parameters and benthic and microbial life study of oil and gas operations in 25 small watersheds in State Forest lands over a two year period.

paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com

Northern long-eared bat was improperly denied endangered status. What's next?

US Fish and Wildlife Service had listed the bat as threatened, and gave a blanket exemption for oil and gas development, logging and coal mining.

www.alleghenyfront.org

Community group wants ideas for repurposing Shenango Coke Works site

Elected officials, local stakeholders and community members will gather Wednesday night to discuss the future of the former Shenango coke works site in Neville, Pennsylvania.

www.post-gazette.com

Pennsylvania: Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill fined for excessive contaminated runoff

The Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill will pay a $24,000 fine for violations involving the improper disposal of shale gas drilling waste and contaminated liquids in 2019.

www.post-gazette.com

Jacquelyn Bonomo: PA legislators should stop giving tax breaks to fossil fuel industry

Pennsylvania is approaching a steep precipice, and the ramifications will be irreversible if we tumble over the edge and link our future to fracked gas, petrochemicals and plastics.

www.mcall.com

Lamb: Western Pennsylvanians feel 'betrayed' by fracking ban legislation

Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, on Friday condemned legislation that would impose by 2025 a nationwide ban on fracking, a natural gas drilling technique that helped create thousands of energy jobs in Pennsylvania.

www.post-gazette.com

A 622-page climate change bill aims to transform industry. What does it mean for Pittsburgh?

The climate legislation, likely to die in the Republican-controlled Senate, serves to bolster House Democrats’ environmental messaging.

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First draft of Pa. carbon-cutting rules aims to save waste coal plants

Other coal plants fear joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will shut them down early. Nuclear plants see it as a lifeline.

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Ohio River regulators planning riverwide PFAS study

Twenty locations along the river including Pa. will be sampled for this group of "forever chemicals" associated with reproductive problems, liver, kidney and thyroid disease, and cancer.

www.alleghenyfront.org

Bill tries to snuff out indoor smoking exemptions in Pennsylvania

A bill introduced by an Allegheny County state representative this week would prohibit smoking in all workplaces in Pennsylvania.

www.wesa.fm

Advocacy groups ask for more public input in health department, U.S. Steel agreement

Some Pennsylvania environmental groups are dissatisfied with an agreement that the Allegheny County Health Department and U.S. Steel finalized earlier this week.

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The complicated history of the Kinzua Dam and how it changed life for the seneca people

The Kinzua Dam, which protects Pittsburgh from flooding and pollution, took thousands of acres of the Seneca's territory and destroyed nine communities. We look at the past and future of the Seneca Nation.

www.alleghenyfront.org

The City of Pittsburgh wants to make building standards for itself

The Pittsburgh Planning Commission approved an amendment to the zoning code on Tuesday that's expected to help the city reach its climate goals.

www.wesa.fm

Natural gas driller, cited by DEP for fracking wastewater spill in Lycoming County, now faces criminal charges

The discharge of approximately 63,000 gallons of treated brine water in 2017 from a natural gas well pad in Lycoming County has been attributed to a worker falling asleep twice in two days.

papost.org

Cheap shale gas menaces coal miner Consol even overseas

In announcing its financial results Tuesday, Consol executives blamed natural gas for a slide in demand and pricing in the coal sector, both domestically and internationally.

www.post-gazette.com

The path of a flush: Interactive map shows wastewater's journey to ALCOSAN

When you flush the toilet in Allegheny County, chances are that the waste ends up at a facility just up the Ohio River.

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Environmental trust fund established for five Mon Valley communities

More than $3 million from U.S. Steel penalty payments will be used for projects benefiting public health and the environment.

www.post-gazette.com

Air quality near Erie Coke showing significant improvement

The latest air quality readings have been released for the neighborhood near Erie Coke. It's the first set of readings that cover a period where the plant was closed every day.