Sulfur Dioxide
is Poisoning Our Air
It’s time to cut pollution in our communities
Sulfur Dioxide Threatens Our Health
A large part of Allegheny County fails to meet federal
Coal Plants Are the Largest Source of
Sulfur Dioxide
safe air standards because of high levels of sulfur dioxide
Coal burning plants like Cheswick are the largest sources
pollution. Several large polluters in Allegheny County are
of dangerous sulfur dioxide pollution in the nation. Even
responsible for spewing sulfur dioxide over our homes
though the Cheswick plant installed technology to cut its
and schools — the largest is the Cheswick coal-fired power
sulfur dioxide pollution, it still poses a threat to our health.
plant in Springdale, followed by three U.S. Steel facilities
This is because it’s still allowed to pollute at levels that can
including the Clairton Coke Works.
cause air quality violations in surrounding communities. Its
Sulfur dioxide pollution triggers asthma attacks, difficulty
breathing and respiratory illness. Exposure to sulfur
dioxide pollution for as little as five minutes can make
air pollution permit fails to require the plant to adequately
operate its sulfur dioxide controls, so it fails to protect our
families’ health.
it hard for a person to breathe and high levels can
Cleaning Up Our Air
send people to the emergency room. This is especially
Our Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) can
dangerous for the nearly 10 percent of Allegheny County
force these polluters to clean up their act. In fact, under
residents who suffer from asthma, especially the nearly
the Clean Air Act, ACHD is required to create a plan that
25,000 kids with pediatric asthma.
will bring our air into compliance with federal safe air
standards. This could mean setting stronger pollution
limits for the Cheswick coal plant and other large,
industrial sources in our region. With stronger limits, the
plant will be forced to use and maintain the life-saving
technology it already has in order to limit sulfur dioxide
emissions.
At the same time, the Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) needs to take similar action to cut
pollution from dangerous coal plants across Western and
Central Pennsylvania. While the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has declared parts of Allegheny, Beaver,
Indiana and Armstrong Counties as failing to meet safe
air standards, they neglected to classify the remaining 90
percent of the state, which means many more areas could
be at risk.
-is it possible to adjust the shading on the map so that geographic markers
colors it’s difficult to tell what the places are. it seems lighter than on other m
S U L F U R D I O X I D E F R O M T H E C H E S W I C K C O A L P L A N T T H R E AT E N S A L L E G H E N Y C O .
CHESWICK POWER STATION
All shaded areas are at risk
of violating the EPA’s one-hour
sulfur dioxide pollution limits.
196
300
400
500
600
1-HOUR AVERAGE SO2 CONCENTRATIONS
2 mi
MICROGRAMS PER CUBIC METER
The model represents how much pollution the plant is currently allowed to emit. It was conducted by a third-party engineering
firm using EPA’s modeling protocols and publicly available data.
Pennsylvania must address the dangers of sulfur dioxide
pollution everywhere. In order to do so, they should use
the most advanced science and technology available to
model how pollution travels, not solely rely on an outdated
and inadequate system of air monitors that only measure
pollution in some areas.
Along with our Department of Environmental Protection,
the Allegheny County Health Department must take action
to strengthen sulfur dioxide limits for major polluters, and
clean up the air we breathe.
Sierra Club Pittsburgh
425 N. Craig St, Suite 202
Pittsburgh PA 15213
(412) 802-6161
facebook.com/PASierraClub
@SierraClubPA
Take Action
• Sign our petition at sc.org/pabeyondcoal
• Write a letter to your local newspaper demanding
stronger limits on sulfur dioxide pollution
• Join us by contacting [email protected]