Breathe Project

SWPA Residents Rage Against the Machines

Deb Smit — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:03:23 +0000

By Debra D. Smit, Breathe Project Data center projects springing up across the country have ignited citizen activism. Residents are demanding a voice in shaping how these centers – cavernous, refrigerated warehouses of computers – will shape the future of their communities. Currently, 22 data center projects are underway in Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, Indiana…

Source

Paul M. Klein: Allegheny County air polluters must help pay to improve our air quality

Deb Smit — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:33:46 +0000

By Paul M. Klein, Allegheny County Council Member I’m sitting in the Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse on a summer night. A retired teacher tells us about his wife’s extreme asthma. She used to breathe freely but now she needs a nebulizer every night. A 70-year-old woman steps up to describe how she wakes each day with burning eyes and shortness of breath. A man who moved to this…

Source

Air Quality Is an Important Metric for Young Professionals Today

Deb Smit — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 18:40:31 +0000

By Maddie Curtis My name is Maddie Curtis and I live in Shadyside. I am an alumni of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, a current Carnegie Mellon University graduate student and an intern with the Breathe Project. I am here today to share my perspective on improving the air quality in Allegheny County as a way to retain young professionals and support the region’s long-term growth.

Source

Local environmental and health groups in US Steel call for dialogue with Nippon Steel – Yahoo News Japan

Deb Smit — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 22:17:58 +0000

Key points Following the completion of Nippon Steel’s acquisition of US Steel, environmental and health groups in the area where US Steel’s blast furnaces are located held a press conference on June 25 (Japan time) to demand dialogue with Nippon Steel. Local residents have long suffered from health issues such as premature death and asthma due to air pollution caused by US Steel’s coal-fired…

Source

A Way to Fund the Allegheny County Health Dept. That Won’t Cost Taxpayers Anything

Deb Smit — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:33:49 +0000

In September 2024, the Allegheny County Board of Health (ACHD) recommended to Allegheny County Council that operating permit fees charged to polluting companies be increased. This increase would provide funding for the Board of Health to better enforce air-quality regulations. County Council may be poised to vote on the recommendation at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, 5 p.m.

Source

40th Anniversary of Bhopal Chemical Disaster – International Event

Breathe Intern — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 19:27:41 +0000

Along with ICJB, the five Bhopal-based survivors’ organizations seek your support to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the deadliest corporate massacre in history, as they continue to confront state apathy and the corporate crimes of Dow Chemical. Please reach out to us if you are interested in actions across the world to support our cause. You could participate in already planned actions or…

Source

Temperature inversion impacts and ACHD’s Mon Valley Pollution Episode Rule – An Explainer

Deb Smit — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 20:02:03 +0000

By John Graham, Clean Air Task Force A temperature inversion is that phenomenon where warmer air above traps cooler air – and pollutants in the area – down at ground level. Due to its geography and industrial activity, the Pittsburgh area experiences some of the worst inversion impacts in the country. Other notable cities with dangerous inversions include Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix…

Source

Stop the Next East Palestine Rail Disaster – 3 Actions to Take

Deb Smit — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 19:08:52 +0000

By Glenn Olcerst, Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh In just two days of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearings on the East Palestine disaster, we learned six reasons why Norfolk Southern can’t be trusted to set safety standards, or to police their own operations. Recognizing that Norfolk Southern’s is in many respects the best of the Class 1 railroads…

Source

Counties, PEMA Need To Include A Complete Vulnerability Assessment Of All Natural Gas Facilities In State, County Hazard Mitigation Emergency Plans

Deb Smit — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 18:14:11 +0000

Reprinted from PA Environmental Digest Blog, Jan. 2, 2023 By Cat (Cathy) Lodge, Washington County Resident My family’s home is in Washington County and we have more Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas industrial facilities than any other county in Pennsylvania. Marcellus shale drilling in Pennsylvania began two decades ago. Counties across the state have witnessed harm from the heavy…

Source

Matt Mehalik: A wrong turn for Southwest Pennsylvania

Deb Smit — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:10:46 +0000

Southwestern Pennsylvania could have a brighter and healthier future — if only our state and region made better economic investments. After all, you get what you pay for. Instead, the region is on a path to a dead-end by pursuing a futile, harmful fossil-fuel based economic strategy. Just last month, Shell’s massive polyethylene resin plant began production near Pittsburgh and is already proving…

Source