Breathing easy isn’t easy
Debra Smit, communications director of The Breathe Project, is so immersed in environmental issues that she has to pause occasionally to take a deep breath.
Monitoring wildfires, proposed data center development, natural gas production, power grid concerns, air quality and uncapped gas wells are prominent among issues under her purview.
Her reporting includes recounting of the horrific explosion at the Nippon/U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works, which killed two, a year ago Aug. 11.
The Breathe Project, based in Pittsburgh, describes itself on its website as 无毛视频渁 clearinghouse for information on air quality in Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.无毛视频�
Matt Mehalik is executive director of the organization, which launched in 2016 and now has a staff of seven. He also teaches sustainability and environmental policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
无毛视频淲e are a nonprofit with a collaborative group of 60-plus organizations (36 of them environmentally related), said Smit, a Mt. Lebanon resident who grew up in suburban Philadelphia and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
That coalition includes citizens, environmental activists, public health officials and academicians.
无毛视频淲e felt we needed to get people together to facilitate conversations among different groups,无毛视频� Smit said. 无毛视频淲e didn无毛视频檛 have everyone talking to each other before that.无毛视频�
The Breathe Project also engages with the public by conducting educational events related to the environment.
Air quality, of course, is the primary focus of The Breathe Project in a region that, for the better part of a century, relied heavily on steel production along its rivers, belching smoke and other pollutants from the Mon Valley to the Beaver Valley.
Smit cited the 1948 Donora smog disaster in particular, an occurrence that claimed 20 lives and sickened thousands. 无毛视频淥ur legacy is inheriting pollution of air and rivers 无毛视频� the beautiful rivers here.无毛视频�
无毛视频淧eople think steel is gone. It无毛视频檚 not gone.无毛视频�
Smit said 无毛视频渁ir pollution has resulted in a lot of premature deaths. Our air has gotten better, but the quality is still bad. People complain about smells all of the time. We can remediate, regulate and improve the air.无毛视频�
Numerous features on The Breathe Project include the live, high-resolution Breathe Cam feeds from the region, Plume Pittsburgh, with tracking how pollution spreads; and Action Center, with resources on how to report poor air quality issues. The organization also has an app, Smell PGH, which shows smell reports from across the area.
Smit also mentioned airnow.gov, a tool via the Environmental Protection Agency.
The significant rise of data center proposals has prompted public opposition throughout Pennsylvania, including possible locations in Washington County: the Zediker Station tract in South Strabane owned by CNX, and a 153-acre site in Starpointe Business Park in Hanover Township.
The Allegheny Front news organization reported that about 80 new projects have been proposed in the state. Plans for one is a flash point in Homer City, Indiana County.
无毛视频淧eople are educating themselves to fight this,无毛视频� Smit said. 无毛视频淪ome are working against having data centers near where people live.
无毛视频淭his is an opportunity for people to fight for their environmental health. Data is still being gathered for these centers.无毛视频�
无毛视频淒iesel data centers,无毛视频� she said, 无毛视频渨ill create air quality, water and noise pollution. Companies are overextending the number of data centers they want in Allegheny County, Westmoreland County, Beaver County and Washington County.
无毛视频淵ou can build data centers out of solar, but not in Western Pennsylvania, where they want to pump in more fossil fuels.无毛视频�
She also lamented pollution issues arising from the Shell Polymers cracker facility in Beaver County, which since its opening in 2022 has been cited for numerous air quality violations and was hit with a $10 million state fine.
Wildfires have been rampant across North America for the past couple of months, which also have been concerning. 无毛视频淭he smallest thing can start a wildfire,无毛视频� Smit said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檝e never seen anything like this. They无毛视频檙e a bad product of global warming, and global warming is a direct result of fossil fuels.
无毛视频淲e have to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy,无毛视频� she said, lamenting that the Trump administration 无毛视频渟ays frack, frack, frack.无毛视频�
In summary, she added: 无毛视频淧eople have to realize global warming is real.无毛视频�