Allegheny County touts improving air quality

PITTSBURGH — 2018 had the cleanest air of any year to date, according to a release from the Allegheny County Health Department.

Data pulled from the PM 2.5 at the Liberty Monitor — located at the South Allegheny High School, just north of United States Steel Corp.'s Clairton Coke Works — showed 2018 was the first time air quality at that monitor had met the EPA standard. The other eight monitors were in compliance.

"I congratulate and thank [Director of the Heath Department Karen] Hacker and her team for being vigilant when they saw violations occur in 2016,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Read more in the Pittsburgh Business Times.

The announcement comes a few days after the Pittsburgh metro region received an "F" grade from the American Lung Association for air quality. That data was gathered between 2015 and 2017. In the release, the health department pointed out that several changes were made after 2017 due to a lack of improvement in air quality.

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