Region Gets an 'F' for Pollution
Pittsburgh's air again ranks among worst in nation
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
27 April 2011
By David Templeton
Air quality in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area continues to rank among
the worst in the nation, despite steady improvements in soot and smog
levels.
Other regions throughout the nation are improving air quality at a
faster pace.
In the American Lung Association's "State of the Air 2011" report
released Tuesday, the Pittsburgh area ranked as the nation's third most
polluted area for short-term particle pollution for the second year in
a row.
It ranked behind only the Bakersfield-Delano and Fresno-Madera areas of
California.
The Pittsburgh area, which ranked fifth in 2010 for yearlong average of
particulate pollution, improved to seventh place. But in the national
ranking for ozone, Allegheny County worsened from 66th to 41st place,
with Los Angeles having the worst. County ozone levels were slightly
worse than Philadelphia's and second in the state to Bucks County.
As a result, the county received an "F" for both categories of particle
and ozone pollution, in part because it had 93 unhealthy air-quality
days for those sensitive to pollution from 2007 through 2009, with
three days judged to be unhealthy for everyone.
Still, air quality in the region had fewer days of dangerous air
pollution and lower long-term average levels of fine-particle pollution
compared with last year's report.
Guillermo Cole, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department,
objected once again to the Lung Association's use of soot readings from
the Liberty monitor -- usually the highest in the county -- to
characterize the whole region. He said Liberty was the only monitor
from 2008 through 2010 that had readings above the national federal EPA
standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter.
"The America Lung Association report is a reminder that there is more
work to be done in the region," he said, noting that pollution levels
from outside the region also are affecting local readings. "We always
acknowledge that the Liberty monitor [just west of U.S. Steel Corp.'s
Clairton Coke Works] is unacceptably high, but other sites in the
county are much lower and meet the particulate standards."
But Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive officer of Citizens for
Pennsylvania's Future, said the region's "air quality is unacceptable."
"Air quality would have to improve a whole lot more than this to make a
significant improvement in those [ranking] numbers," she said. "At some
level the public simply has to say, 'We're mad as hell and not going to
take it any longer,' and demand clean air for Pittsburgh, or it's not
going to change."
Ms. Jarrett said old coal-fired power plants must be replaced with
natural-gas plants, while fleets of garbage trucks, buses and municipal
fleets should also convert to natural gas. Pittsburgh also needs to
enforce the diesel anti-idling law, which limits how long diesel trucks
can stay in place with engines running.
The report noted that 51,000 children and nearly 175,000 adults in
Allegheny County have asthma with 89,000 cases of chronic bronchitis,
49,000 cases of emphysema, 783,000 cases of heart disease and nearly
184,000 with diabetes. Science has linked all with pollution exposure.
The two cleanest cities are Honolulu, Hawaii, and Santa Fe-Espanola,
N.M., the report said.
In response to the report, the Lung Association called on citizens to
counter efforts by some members of Congress to weaken the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's ability to enforce the Clean Air Act.
"Air pollution kills," said Charles D. Connor, Lung Association
president and chief executive officer. "The Clean Air Act is under
attack by the polluters' lobby that wants to block implementation of
regulations and weaken the EPA. But we need a strong Clean Air Act.
These are perilous times for the Clean Air Act and clean air in
America."
David Templeton: dtempleton@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1578.