The Allegheny Front

This week, we learn about why white oak trees are in trouble and the lawsuit over a plan to cut them down in the Wayne National Forest. We also talk about the underground network that connects trees in forests and helps them communicate. Plus, the story of a hunter who discovered a full-grown American chestnut tree in a Delaware forest. We also have news about a global clean energy conference in Pittsburgh, pipelines, and spotted lanternflies.

 

Climate change is fueling more flooding in Pennsylvania and throughout the Ohio Valley. This week, we’ll look at the relationship between climate change and flooding in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. And we’ll hear about how one town in Pennsylvania is trying to get ahead of the problem

Plus, it’s the 60th anniversary of the publication of a book that questioned the indiscriminate use of synthetic chemicals and became an instant classic: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. We also have news about zero-emissions buses in Pittsburgh, a large solar buy in Centre County, and bigger rebates for electric vehicles in Pennsylvania.

Street trees help cool cities, filter rainwater, and prevent flooding. We look at how Pennsylvania cities are overcoming the barriers to planting more. In Huntington County, birders and naturalists oppose new development next to a wetland. Plus, the creation of the Flight 93 National Memorial to honor the 40 crew and passengers who died there on 9/11 included treating mine pollution in the water nearby.

News about conservation funding in Pennsylvania, federal funds for miners with black lung disease, and a controversial plan at a landfill that accepts fracking waste.

PFAS, called forever chemicals, is the latest worry over fracking. We talk to a reporter about how PFAS found in one man's well water could have come from fracking. One year later, the devastating impacts of Hurricane Ida linger for people in Pennsylvania. And, we talk with a conservationist about purple martins, which need human-made birdhouses to keep them from going extinct in the eastern U.S.

Plus, news about a frack waste injection well in Allegheny County, air monitors in Delaware County, and monarch butterflies in the Lehigh Valley.

Susan Scott Peterson had been living in Pittsburgh for just a few weeks when she smelled it for the first time. The air was a little thick, a little hazy—and it smelled like a ripe porta-potty.

It didn’t take long to figure out it was hydrogen sulfide, a sulfur-smelling gas emitted by U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, about fifteen miles south of her house. The plant manufactures coke, a fuel used in steelmaking—and it’s notorious for violating local pollution regulations.

But what could she do about it?

This is a story about the air we breathe, the risks we live with, and what it means to become a citizen of a place.

It’s adapted from an episode produced in 2021 for Outside/In, a podcast by New Hampshire Public Radio.

READ MORE:

Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces (ROCIS)

Articles about air pollution by The Allegheny Front

Articles about the Clairton Coke Works by The Allegheny Front

Resource list for groups working on air quality in Pittsburgh

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE INCLUDED PORTIONS OF “NOT DRUNK” (MIX-FULL-BAND-NO-VOCAL) AND “NOT DRUNK” (STEM-BASS)  BY THE JOY DROPS AND“FRESH LIFT”  BY SHANE IVERS, ALL LICENSED UNDER CC-BY 4.0. ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY BLUE DOT SESSIONS. ADDITIONAL SOUNDS EXCERPTED FROMSOUNDS OF CHANGE, MONICA137142, AND PREMNATH KUDVA, LICENSED UNDER CC-BY 4.0, AND FROM SOUNDBYLADYV, LICENSED UNDER CC SAMPLING +.

A new study finds children living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania are at an increased risk of leukemia. Meanwhile, Energy Transfer is held criminally responsible for the damage done during the construction of its Mariner East pipeline. We also have answers to some of your questions about Shell's ethane cracker in Beaver County.

We visit a small group of workers getting rid of the invasive plants in a Pittsburgh park…and they have four legs. And, teens learn how to sail the Pittsburgh rivers. Plus, a landmark climate law was signed by President Biden this week. A high school student says we should thank the activists, not the politicians. 

This week, we explore how tourism impacts local communities and their natural resources like the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. It’s become a trendy tourist destination, which is good for business, but it’s straining the resources of a county with just 7,000 year-round residents.

We take a trip to Appalachia’s Ice Mountain, where rare plants have existed since the Ice Age, and cool air seeps out of ice vents deep in the rocks. Plus, a conversation with Pennsylvania’s first director of outdoor recreation.

This week, we have a special show about Indigenous people, land, water, and culture. Our first story looks at how the pawpaw, a fruit that mainly grows in the eastern US, continues to live in the memories and language of Indigenous people forced to move west.

Then, we talk with an Indigenous scientist about her new book that contrasts conservation science with Indigenous knowledge about the natural world.

Plus, a paddler from the Seneca Nation takes a 300-mile journey down the Allegheny River to draw attention to protecting it and all waterways. 

We talk with three families who are leaving or have left Beaver County because of Shell's ethane cracker, fearing pollution, and looking for better opportunities.  Pennsylvania is looking at bringing American martens, a small weasel, back to the state's forests. We talk with a wildlife biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Plus, we visit a one-of-a-kind prairie habitat in Pennsylvania, home to an endangered rattlesnake and wildflowers. And, news about the Chesapeake Bay and wild turkeys.

Residents in Greene County, Pennsylvania who say their water has been contaminated from a fracking incident want action. We’ll also hear about a PR campaign by natural gas companies that targets Black and Latino voters in Pennsylvania.

A farmer says a nearby gas well is as loud as a jet engine from supercomputers — fueled by the gas —  mining cryptocurrency. Plus, news about environmental funding from the Pennsylvania state budget.