| 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." -- 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". -- https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/latest-news/american-lung-ass... https://www.ehn.org/pittsburgh-warned-stay-indoors-pollution... |