[gotodengo]

Western PA in general seems to be slipping back into (as I've been told it was like) the pollution of the 70's.

Even without the recent coke plant fire, Pittsburgh had a record worst year (since they've cleaned up in the past few decades at least) for days of high airborne particulates, warnings for those with asthma, etc.

The gas wells in the south west of the state used to pool their run off/waste water (which contains at least benzene IIRC) and wait for it to evaporate off. Those pools occasionally leaked though, and the pictures of dead fish in nearby ponds/streams looked bad. So now they mist the water and spray it into the air to be dispersed over a larger area. Last time I was home I saw my neighbor mowing his yard with a white surgical mask on.

Tap water has turned cloudy at best and isn't trusted by anyone, so everybody buys bottled water, which just increases pollution again.

Last I read though, Bayer was getting out of Pittsburgh, and BNYM was doing a bunch of layoffs. As much as they should, I can't imagine the local govts bringing down the hammer anytime soon. In leiu of tax breaks, Appalachia has a long history of selling the environment and locals health in exchange for business.

[autokad]

> "Western PA in general seems to be slipping back into (as I've been told it was like) the pollution of the 70's."

that is incorrect. air quality levels have improved significantly, just at a slower rate than the rest of the nation.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2018/04/18/Pit...

> "Last time I was home I saw my neighbor mowing his yard with a white surgical mask on."

Maybe they have hey fever.

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, I enjoyed breathing the air a lot more than in Philadelphia. I recently moved to Seattle, and I recently experienced worse air quality than any other place I have been with its 'summer smoke' days. Another thing mentioning about those bad 'air quality days' in the Pittsburgh area, they count pollen, and I am sure the farms in the region add to the air woes. In any event, jobs/work or the lack there of is a major concern for the area.

[gotodengo]

Your link is in reference to the state of the air reports. Which seem to collect data in 3 year periods. Looking at the most current report vs. the previous one Pittsburgh is (slightly) worse for particulates, going from 12.6 ug/m^3 to 12.8. The city also fell from 17th worst to 10th worst for fine particles[1].

Between the reports, it was the only county in PA to see an increase in unhealthy days for fine particle pollution[1]

25% of days in 2019 have been unsafe for people with asthma in the city[2]. Obviously the coke fire is a large part of that. Which by the accounts I've read at the least took their sweet time warning the public about the scale and type of pollutants that were released.

Obviously the city is not yet at 1970's level. I've spent some time on the rivers, and indicator species once lost have returned and are still there.

Your own link however contains the quote(from before the coke plant fire)

"Of all counties in the state, only Allegheny experienced an increase in the frequency of unhealthy days for particulate pollution, 6 to 8.5 — the highest in any county east of Utah."

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For context with the neighbor, this is while the well ~200 yards from his house was spraying mist. From the last time I was at my parents' house it seemed to do that for about 10 minutes every 4 hours or so. It makes the air smell like old cabbage and is hard to schedule around. The whole street has shared their concerns with one another.

I love the place, and farms certainly add their own pollutants to the air and water, but the status of the air in Pittsburgh is pretty canonically "not good".

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https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/latest-news/american-lung-ass...

https://www.ehn.org/pittsburgh-warned-stay-indoors-pollution...