Air monitoring project reveals concerns

Data collection will continue in the area through December.

Protect PT and the Environmental Health Project held a joint information session on Monessen’s air quality Tuesday at Monessen High School.

Protect PT’s mission is to connect with community members, spread information about oil and gas related issues and explain how they can combat those dangers while giving people a voice.

EHP, which does work around the state and Westmoreland County, partnered with Protect PT to compile the air quality reports, analyze results, use equipment to interpret them and spread information about health-related issues.

Their facilities of concern are the Cleveland Cliffs Monessen Coke Plant and Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill in Rostraver Township.

The project’s timeline starts in December 2024 when the first data was collected. Tuesday’s meeting displayed the end of their sixth quarter’s results.

The data they presented was collected during their EPA grant-funded Clean Air For All project and spanned from September 2025 until June 2026. Data collection ends this December, and a final report will be presented then.

They partnered with residents to set up six air-monitoring stations on their properties to collect air quality data. They are collecting two different types of air quality data — particulate matter and tVOCs or volatile organic compounds.

The six locations all collected particulate matter, according to Protect PT environmental scientist Yvonne Sorovacu, and only two collected tVOC data.

“Most of the locations were in sync for most of the period,” Sorovacu said. “What that indicates is that the particulate matter is generally coming from a regional source more than local sources because they are kind of spread throughout the area.

“The highest readings tend to be in the kind of late November through the late February period. That is also the heating season, and the season we tend to see aversions. Our environment collects everything.”

According to Environmental Scientist Assistant Mina Kimak, particulate matter is any type of chemical composition that is tiny enough to pass deep into people’s lungs and their bloodstreams. It is one of the air pollutants that is regulated under the Clean Air Act.

“There’s a very long list of volatile organic compounds,” Kimak said. “Some can be concerning, but others can be very toxic. It just depends on what compounds.”

Data collected

Sorovacu showed the daily averages for the particulate matter and the tVOC data. For EPA standards, 98% of 24-hour readings of particulate matter need to be below 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

The data collected in this time period mostly remained below that level, with the average particulate matter level staying at 22, according to Sorovacu.

For the average annual standard for all readings, particulate matter is supposed to stay below 9 micrograms per cubic meter, according to EPA standards, and the station located across the river north of the Coke Works had an average of 9.56.

“Perhaps a longer-term value at that location may be an issue,” Sorovacu said. “This is nine months of data, and we are talking about an annual standard. Also the way the EPA calculates these is they actually take three years of data to evaluate different places. Technically, we would need to take three years to make a true comparison.”

EPA standards are also a balance of health risk and what the EPA considers regulatory feasible, according to Sorovacu.

However, according to the World Health Organization, which bases data on how healthy the air quality is, their 98% of 24-hour readings of particulate matter need to be below 15 micrograms per cubic meter and the average annual standard needs to be below 5.

That means none of the study’s data so far meets World Health Organization guidelines, and most of the data does meet EPA guidelines.

“That means that according to the most up-to-date scientific understanding of what particulate matter does to the human body, that we would expect to see some health impacts from exposure to particulate matter,” Sorovacu said. “Keep in mind also that we don’t have a full year to compare. Once we have all of our data to really compare to these, we will have a better comparison.”

Three out of eight tVOC samples collected at the site closest to Cleveland Cliffs detected benzene at levels above health risk standards, according to Santosh Muralidaran of Environmental Health Project. Those readings occurred Nov. 6, 2025, Dec. 17, 2025, and Feb. 17, 2026.

Due to the wind direction on the first two dates, the benzine was most likely not coming from the plant, but from other environmental factors. The winds were in the direction of the plant, but there are other potential sources from that direction as well.

“That doesn’t mean the Coke Works or the landfill didn’t emit anything at all,” Muralidaran said. “On this specific day, the highest readings were not originating from either or possibly the Monessen Coke Works. That’s why we don’t say with certainty that the readings are a result of the Coke works.”

Benzine can come from oil and gas drilling, home sources like gasoline and other types of manufacturing. It can cause dizziness, headaches, tremors, cancer and more.

“Everything that emits particulate matter and VOCs impacts air quality,” Sorovacu said. “That means a barbecue can impact air quality. That means someone smoking near a monitor can impact air quality. That means the coke plants can impact air quality. All of those things can impact it.”

Community action

Representatives from both Protect PT and Environmental Health Project said the final reporting on the full set data collected since December 2024 will give them a better picture of the long-term air quality patterns and health concerns.

Sorovacu said the things that people observe are important, and people can give context to what is happening in their environment more than the air monitoring machines.

She also encourages people who are impacted by any air pollution in the area to make observations and do it consistently.

“Never underestimate how important what you see, feel, hear, etc is. It helps us,” Sorovacu said. “There are some things that are out of our control, so we want to highlight the things that are in our control. There are steps we can take to protect ourselves from things that are out of our control.”

Anyone wanting to report an incident can go to report. protectpt.org or call the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection at 866-

Mina Kimak, environmental scientist assistant for Protect PT, presents findings from a project they have been conducting in the Monessen area from Sept. 10, 2025, to June 10 during Tuesday’s public meeting. Sarah Pellis / Mon Valley Independent

255-5458.