Grassroots Resident Led Town Hall #18 – When Air Kills: Pittsburgh’s Hidden PM2.5 Toll

Dr. Philip Landrigan, co-author of “Particulate Air Pollution, Disease and Death in the Cities and Towns of Southwestern Pennsylvania,” will discuss the results of the study and the impact on our communities. Published in The Annals of Global Health, January 2026, the study estimated that 13% of adult deaths in the Pittsburgh area in 2019 were linked to fine-particle (PM2.5) air pollution.

Of roughly 27,200 adult deaths that year, as many as 3,500 may have been attributable to PM2.5 exposure. U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works is the largest source of air pollution in Allegheny County. Between 2019 and early 2024, the company paid more than $15 million in fines and penalties to the Allegheny County Health Department for air pollution violations and failures. CCW is considered a “high-priority violator,” one of only 11 such facilities nationally.

Residents will also have the opportunity to call on Nippon Steel, the new owners of USS, to address decades of negligent maintenance at CCW.

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