Report: Pa. Waterways High in Industrial Pollution

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
21 October 2009
By Vivian Nereim

A state environmental group today released a report chronicling the pollutants legally released by industrial facilities into Pennsylvania's waterways, saying that the state has the sixth-largest amount of toxic discharges in the United States.

PennEnvironment compiled the report from data gathered in 2007 and released in May 2009 by the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the report, more than 10 million pounds of chemicals like formaldehyde, lead and arsenic were discharged into Pennsylvania's waterways in 2007. The report says the largest amount of pollutants was discharged by U.S. Steel's Clairton Works, which released more than 2.5 million pounds into the Monongahela River and its tributary Peters Creek.

"We should be outraged by this," said Erika Staaf, PennEnvironment's clean water advocate.

"Most of us are drinking water that comes out of these rivers," said Myron Arnowitt, state director of Clean Water Action, another environmental advocacy group.

The data was self-reported by the companies that released the pollutants, said Ms. Staaf. Mr. Arnowitt said there are likely illegal discharges into waterways that are not be included in the report.

The report urges companies to use "safer alternatives" to toxic chemicals, and it asks lawmakers and environmental agencies to more strictly enforce the Clean Water act.

Ms. Staaf said the Clean Water Act needed to be enforced "with credible penalties, not just warning letters."