Good News About Pittsburgh's Air Pollution

Is this blog depressing, or is it just me? When I set out to write the Pittsburgh Smog Blog for a class project, I was among the 65% of Pittsburgh residents who believed that our region's air pollution was not a big deal. So finding out that the air my child and I are breathing is among the most polluted in the country came as quite a shock.

But there is some good news. This Thanksgiving week, I'd like to take some time to tell you the top 5 reasons why I believe Pittsburgh is on the right track...


#1. Governor-elect Tom Wolf: Democrat Tom Wolf won the election this month and environmentalists are breathing a huge sigh of relief. Wolf ran on a platform of imposing tougher regulations on Marcellus Shale drillers and other groups with environmental impacts; his predecessor Tom Corbett has been viewed as being lax on regulations and putting profit before environmental issues. It will be interesting to see how things change when Wolf takes office in January 2015!


#2. Mayor Bill Peduto: Pittsburgh's new mayor is known to be a friend to the environment. While serving on city council, he was a vocal supporter of legislation aimed at making Pittsburgh a cleaner, greener city. As mayor, his "100 Days; 100 Policies to Change Pittsburgh" features a number of policies focused on sustainability.

Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Wolf (left) and
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto (right) courtesy of YouTube

#3. Particle pollution levels down: while Pittsburgh's fine particle pollution is still at dangerous levels, the 2014 American Lung Association "State of the Air" report shows it at its lowest level in fifteen years. This is due in part to switching some power plants from coal to gas burning, and cleaner burning diesel engines (see #5). So the overall news isn't great but at least we are headed in the right direction!


#4. Bicycle commuting on the rise: Mayor Bill Peduto has vowed to make Pittsburgh into "a cycling mecca." He's even hired a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, and inconvenienced countless Pittsburghers by closing down local roads to build bike lanes. But I don't mind the temporary shut-downs (or driving behind a slow moving bike when I'm running late)...more bikes mean less air pollution!

Source: bikepgh.org

#5. Cleaner vehicle emissions: responding to federal regulations, Allegheny County has been busy installing new filters and in some cases new engines on PAT buses, school buses, garbage and municipal trucks, and others. These retrofits are estimated to reduce emissions from these vehicles by 90%. While there are still many vehicles on the road that do not meet current standards, the reduction in particle pollution is a step in the right direction and a step away from this:

This photo of a barely visible truck shrouded in a cloud of smoke
(and headed towards the Kennywood sign) courtesy of GASP