04/28/2022
RHETORIC VS REALITY: THE ACHD DISCONNECT
In response to the annual “State of the Air” report released last week by the American Lung Association (ALA), the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) ran a victory lap for what it referred to as measurable progress in Greater Pittsburgh’s air quality.
Unfortunately for all of us, achieving measurable progress does not mean that pollution is not a problem. Public health research confirms that pollution contributes to mortality and disease.
On top of that, it took a pandemic and a virtual shutdown of the country to produce an improvement.
But fair enough. Our grades improved to a “Failure” for Ozone, a “Failure” for 24-hour particle pollution (PM2.5), and barely a “Pass” for annual particle pollution. While two F’s and a pass are better than straight F’s, which were our previous grades year after year, would we be thrilled to bring home that report card when we were in school?
Not content to leave well enough alone, ACHD raised the stakes when it made the unfounded claim that the way they got to this result was reliance on, “...the public, industry leaders, public officials and environmental groups to help shape policy.”
This is what ACHD has to say about the public on its website: “ACHD prioritizes air quality as one of this area’s most pressing public health challenges. We want residents to have access to information on air quality in real-time…”
Last Sunday, during a span of days when air quality reached dangerous levels, ACHD sent an air pollution warning with a link to current monitored amounts, but the link was broken. As a work-around, I navigated to their real-time Air Quality Dispersion and Outlook report, to find that it is only updated Monday through Friday before noon. So much for real-time information.
ACHD states that “...public interest is crucial to improving air quality in our county...”
If so, why doesn’t ACHD pay attention to 70,000 Smell Pgh reports of bad air over the last few years submitted by the public? Ironically, the Smell Pgh app was developed by Create Lab at CMU, with input from ACHD!
ACHD’s claim of reliance on industry leaders is at best hyperbole, since our region’s number one polluter, U.S. Steel (USS), is once again suing ACHD for trying to do its job by fining the company $1.8 million for Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) emissions from its Clairton Coke Works.
What public official might ACHD be referring to in the development of its policies? Allegheny County Executive, Rich Fitzgerald, would be the most relevant one since ACHD operates under his control. But that is the same Rich Fitzgerald who was on stage when USS announced $1.5 billion of improvements to its Mon Valley Works in 2019. Where was Fitzgerald when USS reneged on that promise in favor of making a $6 billion investment in non-union mills in Arkansas?
And that brings us to ACHD’s self-professed reliance on environmental groups. The same groups about which Fitzgerald said “If there aren’t complaints and issues raised by those extremists, then they are less able to raise funds to continue their operations?”
We need an open dialogue with our healthcare, civic, corporate, university and governmental leaders, that can result in a vision for a healthier region, rather than the continuance of our century-long position as the epicenter of the problem.
Absent that vision and default to business as usual, there is the danger that the demise of the steel industry in Pittsburgh will be followed by further growth in industrial petrochemical production, such as the Shell plastic plant ready to open in Beaver County.
The fact that we live in the top 1% worst places in America for cancers caused by point source air pollution, with up to triple the rate of youth asthma and countless other preventable diseases, should be a source of shame for our region.
In the words of William Shakespeare, we can’t allow “what’s past is prologue” to prevail," and one way to assure that it won’t is for you to help us in two ways:
1 Share this communication with others, urging them to join our 1,000-member group of concerned residents committed to overcoming the status quo.
2 If you believe that your community might be a focus for future town halls, respond to this email, and provide me with information so that the group might pursue the suggestion. Thanks everyone!
Howard M. Rieger, Ph.D.
Convener, Southwest PA Resident-led Town Halls
East End Neighbors: Fight Pollution
