PublicSource examined asthma data, gathered insights from air quality experts and advocates, and queried Allegheny County on its air pollution control efforts. Read the full range of insights and perspectives here. And, check out the key takeaways below:
Facts, fast.
- Last year, there were 2,083 asthma-related emergency department visits recorded in Allegheny County hospitals. That’s down from 3,019 in 2019, though experts say this doesn’t necessarily reflect a decrease in asthma’s prevalence locally.
- Medical practitioners wonder if that truly reflects patient experiences. “I suspect maybe [emergency department visits] have declined, but I also suspect something’s missing,” said Dr. Deborah Gentile, a physician with the University of Pittsburgh Asthma & Environmental Lung Health Institute at UPMC. It is possible that since the pandemic, some emergency department visits involving asthmatic symptoms or flare-ups have been classified as something else, said Gentile.
- Pittsburgh has long been identified as one of the worst metro areas in the country for air pollution, which experts connect to above-average rates of asthma and related conditions.
- Activism has made an impact. In 2014, activists pressured the former Shenango Coke Plant on Neville Island to comply with local and federal regulations. Following the plant’s closure in 2016, area local emergency departments experienced an immediate 42% decline in cardiovascular visits, according to a 2023 study, linking the plant’s chemical emissions to negative health impacts on nearby residents.
- In the American Lung Association’s 2024 State of the Air report, Pittsburgh was ranked the most polluted metro area in the Middle Atlantic region for both daily and year-round particulate matter. Nationwide, Pittsburgh came in 26th, the first time in a quarter century it fell outside the top 25. But that could be partly due to worsening quality elsewhere, due to the spike in wildfires.
- Pittsburgh still received an “F” grade from the association for both daily and annual particulate matter in 2024.
- The Health Department's annual air quality report, released Monday, showed the county met federal air quality standards for 2023 while noting the county "still has important work to do."
- The Allegheny County Health Department hired a new director in August, Dr. Iulia Vann, who has already spent time speaking to residents living in air-polluted communities in Allegheny County, including the Mon Valley.
- Since Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab launched its Smell Pittsburgh app in 2015 to enable residents to report bad smells to the Health Department, more than 103,300 reports have been sent. The most frequently reported smell is “rotten eggs,” pointing to sulfur as the likely source.
- Each year from 2018 to 2024, the Health Department issued penalties and fines to U.S. Steel for air pollution emissions, uncontrolled pushes in coke ovens, equipment failures and leaks at Clairton Coke Works. Last February, the Health Department fined U.S. Steel nearly $2 million for hundreds of working violations at Clairton Coke Works.
- U.S. Steel invests “approximately $100 million per year in environmental compliance at the Mon Valley Works alone,” according to a U.S. Steel spokesperson.
- According to County Executive Sara Innamorato’s comprehensive fiscal plan and proposed budget for this year, the county will receive $200,945 in federal funding for clean air grants for air pollution control agencies.
Allie Miller is a freelance journalist covering health, food and the LGBTQIA+ community in the Pittsburgh region, and lives in New Stanton. Allie can be reached at allie.l.mill@gmail.com or on Instagram, @alliemiller6.
This story was fact-checked by Jake Vasilias.
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