New Report: Toxic Air Polluters in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Residents of the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh, suffer from among the worst air quality in the nation. For example, the county ranks in the top 0.3 percent of all counties in the U.S. for cancer risk from air pollutants discharged from point-source facilities.

Jeff Inglis

Policy Analyst

Residents of the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh, suffer from among the worst air quality in the nation. For example, the county ranks in the top 0.3 percent of all counties in the U.S. for cancer risk from air pollutants discharged from point-source facilities.

This is not a surprise to county residents, many of whom have been working – sometimes for decades – to force polluters to stop fouling the air.

Our new report, Toxic Ten: The Allegheny County Polluters That Are Fouling Our Air and Threatening Our Health, profiles the top 10 emitters of toxic industrial air pollution in Allegheny County. The facilities are ranked by the relative toxicity of the air pollution they reported releasing in 2013, according to EPA data.

The list includes longtime problem polluters, legacies of the area’s industrial past, particularly in the metal industry. The list also includes newer facilities doing high-tech metallurgy work. The chemicals these facilities release into the air are linked to cancer, heart disease, breathing problems and neurological damage. (Explore the list at toxicten.org.)

Many of these facilities have violated emissions regulations in the past; others of them barely appear on the public’s radar as significant polluters in the region.

This report highlights not only the hazards to human health that these facilities pose, but also the fact that some of the most toxic air polluters in any area may not be getting much public attention.

That is why it is important for policymakers and regulators to require real-time monitoring around all polluting facilities, impose real limits on pollution to prevent harm to human health, and levy significant punishments for violations.

Authors

Jeff Inglis

Policy Analyst