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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Trump wants to roll back environmental reviews of major projects like pipelines

This rollback would eliminate the need for environmental impact studies for not just pipelines but other infrastructure projects like highways.

www.alleghenyfront.org

When America fell in love with light rail

In a time of austere federal funding, cheaper-than-a-subway urban mass transit seemed to make sense.

www.citylab.com

Health officials: U.S. Steel faces $743,625 in fines for Clairton Coke Works violations

Environmental organizations say latest fines indicate ongoing environmental problems at coke plant are not going away

www.post-gazette.com

LISTEN: EHN's Pittsburgh reporter discusses air pollution from U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works

PITTSBURGH—EHN's Pittsburgh reporter Kristina Marusic joined Allegheny Front's Kara Holsopple to talk about U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, one of the biggest emitters of air pollution in Pennsylvania.

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Health officials: U.S. Steel faces $743,625 in fines for Clairton Coke Works violations

The Allegheny County Health Department has slapped U.S. Steel with $743,625 in fines for pollution violations at its Clairton Coke Works facility, the agency announced Friday.

www.post-gazette.com

Why fossil fuel companies are reckoning with climate change

How should a company that generates most of its profits by serving the world's enormous appetite for oil navigate a long-term future in which shifting political and economic tides threaten to make fossil fuels obsolete?

time.com

Lake spill earns Mariner East pipelines another $2 million fine

The pipelines’ owner, Energy Transfer, has been penalized more than $15 million by Pennsylvania regulators for the project.

www.post-gazette.com

U.S. energy industry looks for clarity in China trade deal

Oil and gas companies may see an export revival from the accord, but they seek commitments that tariffs will be dropped.

www.nytimes.com

What you need to know about air quality, the U.S. Steel settlement and temperature inversions

Kara Holsopple and Kristina Marusic discuss the settlement of a class action lawsuit against U.S. Steel and how the Christmas temperature inversion that made Pittsburgh's air smell like "rotten eggs, sewer backup, burning plastic and hospital waste."

www.alleghenyfront.org

After the explosion

Ivy Lane was a quiet cul-de-sac built on a hill in Center Township, Beaver County. Its new neighbor is a pipeline company.

newsinteractive.post-gazette.com

Pennsylvania DEP orders Range Resources to fix leaking Marcellus well 'once and for all'

Regulators first detected the leak eight years ago and said the well’s owner has offered only “sporadic cooperation.”

www.post-gazette.com

Gov. Wolf vows to veto bill loosening rules for conventional oil and gas wells

A proposal to ease environmental regulations for the state's struggling conventional oil and gas industry advanced in the state House on Monday, despite a vow from Gov. Tom Wolf to veto it in its current form.

www.post-gazette.com

Opposition to road dumping drilling wastewater grows in Pennsylvania

One hundred sixty-six organizations and 1,445 individuals have now signed the letter that expresses opposition to the bill that allow the road-spreading of drilling waste on unpaved roads in Pennsylvania.

paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com

Not good enough for whom? Pittsburgh is a place worth fighting for

Pittsburgh is cheap, but it stinks. Or so says Google engineer Dennis Towne, whose recent PublicSource essay laments the city's noxious pollution problem and urges tech workers to stay away.

www.publicsource.org

Pittsburgh: Air quality protest leads to tension in Board of Health meeting

At the heart of the debate Friday between air quality advocates and regulators: How fast can the Pittsburgh region clean up its air?

www.publicsource.org

Clairton residents, activists protest air pollution

Second Christmas season with unhealthy air in county prompts calls for fast action to correct chronic and acute air pollution problems.

www.post-gazette.com

Pa. shale gas fee revenue projected to drop 21% on low gas prices

Last year's low natural gas prices are to blame for an expected $53.6 million drop in the amount of impact fees Pennsylvania will collect from shale gas companies this year, the state's Independent Fiscal Office said.