The Allegheny Front

This week on The Allegheny Front, stories about the air we breathe: tiny particles of pollution can be too small to see, but that doesn't mean that dirty air isn't affecting our health; some neighbors of an industrial coke plant say a recent fire there has made air pollution worse in their community; a new book looks at air pollution from a global perspective. Plus, the story of a Pittsburgh environmental group that started in the 1960s with a guerrilla marketing campaign and outrage over smoky skies.

This week on The Allegheny Front, surveying Pittsburgh's rivers to see if a salamander is bouncing back, in hopes that an endangered mussel can make a comeback, too. The story of how one school teacher saved a swampy patch of suburb for salamanders. The plan to build a gas storage hub meets resistance and utility companies look to a younger generation.

This week on The Allegheny Front, Japan bets on hydrogen-fueled vehicles, but will consumers buy them? We talk with a reporter who found "chaos" when she went to New Mexico to see how the government is managing drilling on public lands. DEP is investigating well water contamination from fracking in suburbs. Plus, the fast food industry embraces the vegan burger that bleeds.

This week on The Allegheny Front, we look back at the Three Mile Island nuclear accident on this 40th anniversary. We'll hear from residents who still live near the nuclear power station and consider the consequences if the struggling plant, and others like it in Pennsylvania, are powered down. Plus an investigation of a rare cancer in one community.

This week on The Allegheny Front, some communities are dropping glass from residential recycling programs. The 40th anniversary of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island has some taking another look at thyroid cancer rates in Pennsylvania. And critics of the Green New Deal say health care and jobs are great, but cutting carbon takes precedence.

Carnegie Mellon researchers designed robots to clean up the Three Mile Island accident. That was just the beginning. We talk with a local high school student who organized Pittsburgh's Youth Climate Strike. A carbon-free society will need a skilled workforce. News about abandoned gas wells, controlling spotted lanternflies and the Clairton Coke Works.

This week on The Allegheny Front, a study shows coal ash is contaminating groundwater. Gov. Wolf's proposal to move environmental funds draws criticism. A cheaper way to capture carbon. Pittsburgh gets federal recognition as the start of the Lewis and Clark trek. Plus, two retirees find friendship in birdwatching.

A woman who sued drillers testifies before a grand jury in a Pa. Attorney General probe. Voters in Toledo just gave Lake Erie legal rights. Youth are making the Green New Deal's case to lawmakers. And, enforcements of environmental laws are down at EPA. Plus, a decline in insect populations and the latest on Clairton Coke Works.

This week on The Allegheny Front, Reid Frazier talks with NPR reporter, Howard Berkes about an NPR and Frontline investigation that revealed that regulators didn’t act when they could have to stop the exposure of thousands of coal miners to toxic silica dust. The investigation discovered there’s now an epidemic of black lung disease caused by that dust in Appalachia, including Pennsylvania.

This week on The Allegheny Front, we meet a pageant queen who values renewable energy as much as her crown. A new study finds diets in the U.S. that are lower in carbon footprint tend to be a bit more healthy. In Ohio, lawmakers may reconsider a bill to loosen rules around a de-icer made from gas drilling waste found to contain radium. And a study finds rivers and streams are getting saltier.

Changes could be coming to how pollution is regulated on the Ohio River. Fracking for natural gas is now a well-established industry, but the business model might not be as stable as it seems. A possible state bailout for nuclear energy. Plus, a winter sport that takes skill, grace and a little rebellion.

Just how can Pennsylvania reach Governor Wolf's new climate goals? One children's author has a strategy for empowering kids to take action on climate change and a psychologist has tips for parents to talk to their children about it. The federal government may not regulate two toxic PFAS compounds in drinking water. And for some farmers, growing hemp is the future.

A class of chemicals known as PFAS is in our bodies and the environment, and could be affecting our health. Plus, there's surprising momentum building for the Green New Deal, a set of ideas on how the government can combat climate change and economic inequality. Art is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it's made from plastic trash.

Some kids with asthma in a Mon Valley town are having a harder time breathing. Their doctor is blaming a nearby U.S. Steel facility where pollution controls were compromised by a fire. What's ahead for the efforts to tackle climate change in Pennsylvania and can we really achieve zero carbon?  One suburb says 'no' to fracking under a park. And, what's the impact of Ryan Zinke's tenure as Interior Secretary?

This week on The Allegheny Front, America’s role in the global struggle with climate change. Plus, the push for petrochemicals in the Ohio Valley and research on storing CO2 underground. And, Haiti, once a paradise of biodiversity, is quickly losing most of its forest, and with it, many species.