Mon Valley air quality monitored after days of dense fog
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
One year after the Christmas Eve fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works that led to higher sulfur dioxide emissions than what is permitted, days of heavy fogs have trapped some of the same gases and caused similar health risks in the area.
The Allegheny County Health Department is monitoring the air quality throughout the Valley after days of temperature inversions.
“The Allegheny County Health Department continues to monitor the air quality in our region following several days of heavy fog, very light winds and continued strong and lengthy temperature inversions,” said Deputy Director of Environmental Health Jim Kelly.
“The weather resulted in the DEP twice forecasting a code orange air quality action day … on Dec. 24 and 25 for the Liberty-Clairton area.”
The health department’s air quality division has been in daily contact with U.S. Steel and other facilities in the Valley because the federal standards for atmospheric particulate matter — PM2.5 — have been exceeded from Saturday through Wednesday.
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