Pittsburgh: 6th worst Year Round Particle Pollution & Short-Term Particle Pollution (Clairton: house, schools)

[Aqua Teen Carl]

If you compare Pittsburgh with Sacramento (also on those lists) you'll see that our metro populations are roughly the same (Pittsburgh is slightly larger). Yet, the number of residents with adult asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease in Pittsburgh dwarfs them by the tens of thousands even though we have less people in poverty.

This is not by accident, there is a pollution problem here that's clearly represented.

[SammyKhalifa]

us being due East from a number of coal fired power plants can't possibly help. Can't blame it all on that though.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

If you compare Pittsburgh with Sacramento (also on those lists) you'll see that our metro populations are roughly the same (Pittsburgh is slightly larger). Yet, the number of residents with adult asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease in Pittsburgh dwarfs them by the tens of thousands even though we have less people in poverty.

This is not by accident, there is a pollution problem here that's clearly represented.

Don't you think having a higher than average amount of elderly people affects that? Plus where are you pulling that from?

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

If you compare Pittsburgh with Sacramento (also on those lists) you'll see that our metro populations are roughly the same (Pittsburgh is slightly larger). Yet, the number of residents with adult asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease in Pittsburgh dwarfs them by the tens of thousands even though we have less people in poverty.

This is not by accident, there is a pollution problem here that's clearly represented.

The devil is in the details, I bet the majority of the people suffering from those ailments are older and lived through some of the worst days of pollution in the Pittsburgh region. This is another data set that is skewed due to our proportionally larger 65+ population.

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by airwave09

The devil is in the details, I bet the majority of the people suffering from those ailments are older and lived through some of the worst days of pollution in the Pittsburgh region. This is another data set that is skewed due to our proportionally larger 65+ population.

Not only that, but a lot of them had jobs in industrial sites and the mills decades ago where they were literally working in the pollution 5 or 6 days a week.. probably not the case in Sacramento. Also, eastern US pollen produces many more asthma sufferes than in the west.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by speagles84

Don't you think having a higher than average amount of elderly people affects that? Plus where are you pulling that from?

You mean the same elderly people who have taken on the pollution here throughout their life and thus have cardiovascular problems now?

Also I'm getting that information right from the link in the original post. The difference in the amount of elderly people here and there isn't even that significant.

[don1945]

Originally Posted by Annoyedextremely

I don't understand why Pittsburgh pollution is still this bad. Most of the steel mills closed thirty years ago. Where does it come from?

I agree. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and I worked at the Clairton works. You couldn't even drive a decent car to work in those days because the quench would eat the paint off of your car. The EPA came in one time and tried to clean up the air and Mothers were protesting because it would affect their Husband's jobs.........they were putting jobs over the welfare of their kid's breathing !

When I went back to Pittsburgh in 2001 for a visit I couldn't believe it was the same town. It was clean and the dirty stinky mills were gone. So I can't see how they feel Pittsburgh hasn't improved from the old days.

Don

[pghdude28]

Our geography definitely creates several problems, such as trapping the polluted air. On sunny days, you can easily tell how polluted it is here by looking at the constant haze in the sky which otherwise would be a perfectly clear day. I've noticed this several times driving through PA on a clear sky day. Once you reach about an hour outside Pgh, the crystal blue skies start to form a light haze. Many of our "sunny days" have substantial cloud cover.

The Pittsburgh region sits in a big bowl. Look up the 1948 incident in Donora. The air was trapped and couldn't escape. This bowl traps weather systems as well. Today is a perfect example of the moisture being trapped and unable to escape.

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by pghdude28

The Pittsburgh region sits in a big bowl. Look up the 1948 incident in Donora. The air was trapped and couldn't escape. This bowl traps weather systems as well. Today is a perfect example of the moisture being trapped and unable to escape.

[SorryIMovedBack]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

If you compare Pittsburgh with Sacramento (also on those lists) you'll see that our metro populations are roughly the same (Pittsburgh is slightly larger). Yet, the number of residents with adult asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease in Pittsburgh dwarfs them by the tens of thousands even though we have less people in poverty.

This is not by accident, there is a pollution problem here that's clearly represented.

Maybe people need to take the radon testing and abatement very seriously.

adult asthma, COPD: That may correlate more with radon or lifestyle or smoking or occupations than with "air pollution." Radon may well play a major part, coupled with how air-tight and draft-free people have tried to make their homes. Old houses were pretty drafty until people started sealing them up. The air used to be full of smoke and smog and particulates but it's much cleaner now that most of the manufacturing was killed off. (And coal smoke is no longer belching out of every home's chimney, right?) With the air so much cleaner than it used to be, I really can't believe that the overall air pollution is as bad as EPA claims, except maybe related to the Clairton works as others suggested. But look at your radon maps. Red means Zone 1 -- counties have a predicted average indoor radon screening level greater than 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter) (red zones) Highest Potential


The map below is from Protech Radon


Cardiovascular disease: Lifestyles, heredity, obesity rate, smoking / drinking rates, occupations: Look at all of those before you point to "air pollution."


"COPD" is a catchall term for several causes. Hypertension / cardiovascular disease / COPD / heart failure can have some of the same symptoms. Just sayin'.