Air Pollution Sources

FACT:

Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have some of the worst air pollution in the United States — with more than 1.2 million people at risk.

Our Region's Air is Still Polluted

Source: Pittsburgh’s Air Quality Data Analysis by John Graham, Ph. D., Clean Air Task Force 2019.

The air quality in Pittsburgh was considered NOT GOOD for 200 days in 2021 and 166 days in 2020, about half of the time each year.

Source: EPA AQI Data, Pittsburgh CBSA, 2021 and 2020

During 2019 – 2021, one regional air monitor in Pittsburgh registered annual particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentrations worse than 90% of all monitors in the U.S.

Four other monitors in Allegheny County measured annual PM 2.5 levels worse than 70% of the U.S. None of the monitors in Allegheny County met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual standard of 5 ug/m3 for fine particle pollution.

During the same period, 5 out of 8 monitors that measure daily PM2.5 levels in the Pittsburgh region recorded PM-2.5 levels in or below the worst 50% of all monitors in the U.S. None of the monitors in Allegheny County met WHO’s standard of 15 ug/m3 for daily levels of fine particle pollution.

The four sulfur dioxide monitors in Allegheny County met the 1-hour standard levels. However, of these four sulfur dioxide monitors, two were in the worst 10% and two were in the worst 40% of all monitors in the U.S.

Of the three ozone monitors in Allegheny County, one was in the worst 50% and two were in the worst 40% of all monitors in the U.S.

Source: Pittsburgh’s Air Quality Data Analysis by John Graham, Ph. D., Clean Air Task Force 2022

Percentage Breakdown

0 % Industrial

Manufacturing, Electricity Generation, Land Fill

0 % Transportation

Manufacturing, Electricity Generation, Land Fill

0 % Residential

Wood Burning, Home Emissions

< 0 % Other

Source: CATF 2017 Allegheny County PM2.5, Criteria Pollution Emissions from EPA.Gov

Fighting Climate Change

The Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County will push the planet over the edge on climate change.

The Shell Petrochemical Plant is permitted by the DEP to emit to emit 2.2 million tons per year of CO2 and CO2 equivalents, which is equal to putting an additional 430,836 passenger cars on the road for a full year.

It will take 1,930,710 acres of trees to capture each year’s worth of CO2 emissions from the cracker plant. This is equal to 6.5% of the total area of the state of Pennsylvania, 5 or just under 12 percent of all of PA’s forest coverage.

Our Region's Air is Still Polluted

The air quality in Pittsburgh was considered NOT GOOD for 200 days in 2021 and 166 days in 2020, about half of the time each year.

During 2019 – 2021, one regional air monitor in Pittsburgh registered annual particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentrations worse than 90% of all monitors in the U.S.

Four other monitors in Allegheny County measured annual PM 2.5 levels worse than 70% of the U.S. None of the monitors in Allegheny County met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual standard of 5 ug/m3 for fine particle pollution.

During the same period, 5 out of 8 monitors that measure daily PM2.5 levels in the Pittsburgh region recorded PM-2.5 levels in or below the worst 50% of all monitors in the U.S. None of the monitors in Allegheny County met WHO’s standard of 15 ug/m3 for daily levels of fine particle pollution.

Percentage Breakdown

Fighting Climate Change

The Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County will push the planet over the edge on climate change.

Featured Studies

American Lung Association, State of the Air 2021

Fossil Fuels, “The Dirty Facts”

GASP Guide to Local Air Pollution