The Allegheny Front The Allegheny Front

As a coal plant winds down, its gradual closure has had ripple effects in the community, including local businesses, like restaurants. A community group rallied around stopping a chemical recycling plant in Central Pennsylvania, saying it's not the answer to slowing plastic pollution. The Energy Secretary visited the area to tout energy efficiency and union jobs. And Shell is hit with misdemeanor charges for allegedly underreporting spills along its pipeline.
We have news about new EPA rules for CO2 emissions for power plants, residential solar for disadvantaged and low-income communities, and the state of the air.  

This week on The Allegheny Front, as the transition to cleaner energy ramps up, a port is being built in New Jersey for the massive wind turbines headed into the Atlantic Ocean. And we talk with the author of a new report on tiny pieces of plastic litter on Great Lakes beaches. Plus, teens in Pittsburgh look to one another to solve the climate crisis.
Also, the Environmental Protection Agency releases new rules to reduce cancer risk from hazardous air pollution near chemical plants. Federal mine regulators publish a long-awaited rule to the amount of toxic silica dust mine workers can legally be exposed to. And a look at a few examples from the more than 70 projects that have been funded through a plan to close a coal plant in Centralia, Washington. 

Centralia, Washington, has been cited as a model for how to successfully transition away from coal.  What can the Appalachian region can learn from its example? And the new Farm Bill is being held up in Congress, but conservationists are pushing legislators to get it passed. Plus, the threat of Lyme disease doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy the outdoors.
News about a $1 million-dollar fine for a gas leak that was called the country’s worst climate disaster in 2022, EPA’s new rule for PFAS in drinking water and a class action settlement with Norfolk Southern.
 

The Department of Energy just finalized a rule to make the energy grid more efficient. While local workers are cheering, energy efficiency advocates say it's investing in old technology. Pittsburgh-area students had a special day to compose songs and poems and create art all about birds. Construction on the first section of 53 miles of trails in central Pa. is set to begin. Plus, we answer questions from adults and kids about the upcoming solar eclipse.
We have news about federal funds to clean up abandoned mineland and the Tioga River, how withdrawing water for fracking from a popular creek could impact a threatened fish, and a lawsuit against a crypto miner and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

The Lackawanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania was once polluted from mining and sewage. We profile the longtime leader of a conservation group who spearheaded its cleanup. Chemical recycling plants that turn plastic into fuels and other materials have been proposed in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Why some residents worry about pollution and safety. Plus, a Penn State professor gives us the scoop on why the upcoming solar eclipse is such a big deal. A Pennsylvania college student is developing a new technology could save one million horseshoe crabs each year.
We have news about a federal grant to build the largest solar farm in Pennsylvania, why the West Virginia governor vetoed a bill expanding renewable energy, and why activists in Virginia think a fine for a major pipeline project is too small.

Companies can take advantage of federal tax credits by capturing their carbon emissions to keep them out of the atmosphere. Now farmers and others are being approached to lease their land to bury this carbon underground. Plus, we'll hear about an effort to preserve the records of a Pennsylvania coal company. And springtime is nestcam season, prompting some bird lovers to worry over the drama unfolding on their screens. A longtime nest watcher has some advice.
We have news about the compliance with the plastic bag ban in Pittsburgh, a Superfund site in Jefferson County and private well testing in East Palestine.