Summary of Clean Water Action meeting held last night at the city bldg. 2012-06-07
Written by Terry Lancaster
Air Quality Meeting held last night at City Building. There were approximately twenty residents from the area ( Liberty Boro, Clairton, West Elizabeth). Allegheny County Health Department - Air Quality Division did a presentation of particulate matter (PM2.5) and the County's progress on obtaining compliance with federal regulations. PM 2.5 was first regulated in 1997 and it has taken the County this long for several reason to bring the valley into compliance. The final state implementation plan is not finish but should be completed by December 2012 with compliance being reached by the deadline of 2014. PM2.5 is averaged over a three year period so it takes along time to gather the necessary information to product a plan.
There are 10 monitors throughout the county but the two of interest to us are the Liberty Boro and Clairton monitors. The Clairton monitor shows the air quality on the hill to be in compliance and below EPA standards. The Liberty Boro monitor because of prevailing winds show the area to be well above EPA standards. This is based on several reasons Mitchell Power Plant (coal burning), Eastman, Koppers, and US Steel within the valley plus large volume of traffic (diesel).
So what does this really mean? What I can tell you is the air quality is much better than it was 15 years ago. US Steel has invested over $500M in upgrades to the Coke Works plant and has more to do.
The meeting was to describe the process the state and county must go through. It was not to directly discuss the condition of the air quality in the valley!
In the future it would probably benefit both the state, county, city, and resident to address the immediate impacts of the local air quality on all!
These types of meetings are valuable and should continue as we change the face of Clairton!
Written by Terry Lancaster
Air Quality Meeting held last night at City Building. There were approximately twenty residents from the area ( Liberty Boro, Clairton, West Elizabeth). Allegheny County Health Department - Air Quality Division did a presentation of particulate matter (PM2.5) and the County's progress on obtaining compliance with federal regulations. PM 2.5 was first regulated in 1997 and it has taken the County this long for several reason to bring the valley into compliance. The final state implementation plan is not finish but should be completed by December 2012 with compliance being reached by the deadline of 2014. PM2.5 is averaged over a three year period so it takes along time to gather the necessary information to product a plan.
There are 10 monitors throughout the county but the two of interest to us are the Liberty Boro and Clairton monitors. The Clairton monitor shows the air quality on the hill to be in compliance and below EPA standards. The Liberty Boro monitor because of prevailing winds show the area to be well above EPA standards. This is based on several reasons Mitchell Power Plant (coal burning), Eastman, Koppers, and US Steel within the valley plus large volume of traffic (diesel).
So what does this really mean? What I can tell you is the air quality is much better than it was 15 years ago. US Steel has invested over $500M in upgrades to the Coke Works plant and has more to do.
The meeting was to describe the process the state and county must go through. It was not to directly discuss the condition of the air quality in the valley!
In the future it would probably benefit both the state, county, city, and resident to address the immediate impacts of the local air quality on all!
These types of meetings are valuable and should continue as we change the face of Clairton!