Apr 25, 2019 2 min read

Pittsburgh may not be “The Smoky City” of yesteryear, but its air is far from pristine, according to a national report released Wednesday morning.

In its 20th annual “State of the Air” study, the American Lung Association gave the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton metropolitan region a failing grade in three categories: daily and year-round fine particle pollution, and the presence of ground-level ozone (also smog).

That’s F as in foul.

The report, from data spanning three years (2015-17), said all three measurements worsened over this period. It added that Allegheny County was the only county outside of California to receive an F in those three categories.

Steel mills may be mostly gone, but Pittsburgh’s air – apparently – continues to be notorious. The 2019 report said daily and annual particle pollution levels in the tri-state metro region were significantly higher than in the 2018 report, and the more recent data showed more unhealthy days of high ozone.

There is a local outcry for solutions. Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, pointed out that the Pittsburgh metro region had an average of 69 percent of “not good” days during the three-year report period. Allegheny County, he added, was at 54 percent.

“We need to pull together to fix this stain on our community. We have a right to breathe healthy air,” he said in a news release from the organization, which monitors air quality data in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“The data in today’s report reflect not only poor air quality, but worsening air quality,” said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director and chief counsel of the Clean Air Council, said in a separate email. “Particularly alarming is the problem of fine particulates in Allegheny County.

“It is unacceptable that the Allegheny County Health Department has failed to propose an attainment demonstration that was due several years ago, which would contain a control strategy to address this problem. When the health department makes its proposal within the next few months, this will be an opportunity for residents to be heard.”

Reita Derrick of Jefferson Hills, an organizer with the Mon Valley group Citizens for Clean Air, said: “These particulates contribute to heart and respiratory diseases and many long-term health effects. … It’s time for our leaders to get serious about interceding, fix the problem and make our lives better.”