Regional Clean Air Campaign Announced

A group of local environmental organizations have announced a clean air initiative to make air in the Pittsburgh region cleaner. The groups involved include PennFuture, the Group Against Smog and Pollution and Clean Water Action. The initiative, called “Breathe Easy, Stay Healthy”, aims to first end Pittsburgh’s ranking as the city with the dirtiest air in the nation. Then ultimately, Joylette Portlock, a PennFuture Outreach Coordinator, says they want to meet federal health standards. She says as of now, the Pittsburgh region is below those standards in both the particulate matter and smog categories. Portlock says there are many health consequences to having dirty air, including higher rates of people with asthma, heart attacks and cancer.