Mobilizing support for cleaner air in Pittsburgh

When local officials in Pittsburgh released an important proposal to make the region’s air polluters pay their fair share, PennEnvironment jumped to action.

The Pittsburgh region has some of the worst air quality in the country, ranking in the worst 2% of all U.S. counties for cancer risk from industrial air pollution. Sadly, this isn’t surprising for the region since a handful of industrial facilities—known as the Toxic Ten—release more than one million pounds of air pollution each year.

The good news is that local officials have put forward a proposal to help these big air polluters pay their fair share for their dirty emissions and enforcing the region’s air pollution laws. With these additional funds, the Allegheny Health Department will have more resources to rein in the biggest sources of air pollution facing the region, and identify and take action against illegal air polluters in the region–all with the long-term goal to reduce air pollution for all Pittsburghers. 

Specifically, this proposal would charge the largest air polluting companies more money for managing their pollution permits. This money would be put toward issuing timely and health protective pollution limits and putting more environmental cops on the beat to stop illegal air emissions.

Of course, the region’s largest polluters quickly came out in opposition and have worked to stop this commonsense proposal from getting over the finish line.

So PennEnvironment rolled up our sleeves during the official 30-day public comment period and went to work to show local officials that this proposal is widely supported across Allegheny County. We educated thousands of local residents through the media about this proposal, earning coverage in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the Pittsburgh Business Times; we educated thousands of our followers in the Pittsburgh region through our email alerts, social media posts and other outreach efforts. At the same time, we recruited more than 31 local elected leaders and over a dozen local organizations to endorse our effort, which we submitted during the public comment period. And at the official public hearing that was held about the proposal, PennEnvironment helped turn out concerned Pittsburghers to testify, including our own staff. 

We’re confident that all of these things will show local leaders that the public is clamoring for cleaner air and stronger clean air protections, and gives them the support they need to move full steam with their proposal.