{"id":265932,"date":"2026-08-15T14:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265932\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T14:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:18:09","slug":"breathing-easy-isnt-easy-observer-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/265932\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathing easy isn\u2019t easy – Observer-Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n The Breathe Project is a \\’clearinghouse\\’ for air quality in region <\/p>\n

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Debra Smit of Mt. Lebanon is communications director of The Breathe Project. [Submitted photo]<\/p>\n

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The Shell Polymers cracker facility in Beaver County has been cited for numerous air quality violations since opening in 2022 and was hit with a $10 million state fine. [Mark Dixon\/ Blue Lens]<\/p>\n

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A data center rally was staged by environmental advocates and residents outside the AI Horizons Summit in September 2025 in Bakery Square. [Submitted photo]<\/p>\n

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Debra Smit, communications director of The Breathe Project, is so immersed in environmental issues that she has to pause occasionally to take a deep breath.<\/p>\n

Monitoring wildfires, proposed data center development, natural gas production, power grid concerns, air quality and uncapped gas wells are prominent among issues under her purview.<\/p>\n

Her reporting includes recounting of the horrific explosion at the Nippon\/U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works, which killed two, a year ago Aug. 11.<\/p>\n

The Breathe Project, based in Pittsburgh, describes itself on its website as \u201ca clearinghouse for information on air quality in Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Mehalik is executive director of the organization, which launched in 2016 and now has a staff of seven. He also teaches sustainability and environmental policy at Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a nonprofit with a collaborative group of 60-plus organizations (36 of them environmentally related), said Smit, a Mt. Lebanon resident who grew up in suburban Philadelphia and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

That coalition includes citizens, environmental activists, public health officials and academicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt we needed to get people together to facilitate conversations among different groups,\u201d Smit said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have everyone talking to each other before that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Breathe Project also engages with the public by conducting educational events related to the environment.<\/p>\n

Air quality, of course, is the primary focus of The Breathe Project in a region that, for the better part of a century, relied heavily on steel production along its rivers, belching smoke and other pollutants from the Mon Valley to the Beaver Valley.<\/p>\n

Smit cited the 1948 Donora smog disaster in particular, an occurrence that claimed 20 lives and sickened thousands. \u201cOur legacy is inheriting pollution of air and rivers \u2013 the beautiful rivers here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think steel is gone. It\u2019s not gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smit said \u201cair pollution has resulted in a lot of premature deaths. Our air has gotten better, but the quality is still bad. People complain about smells all of the time. We can remediate, regulate and improve the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous features on The Breathe Project include the live, high-resolution Breathe Cam feeds from the region, Plume Pittsburgh, with tracking how pollution spreads; and Action Center, with resources on how to report poor air quality issues. The organization also has an app, Smell PGH, which shows smell reports from across the area.<\/p>\n

Smit also mentioned airnow.gov, a tool via the Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

The significant rise of data center proposals has prompted public opposition throughout Pennsylvania, including possible locations in Washington County: the Zediker Station tract in South Strabane owned by CNX, and a 153-acre site in Starpointe Business Park in Hanover Township.<\/p>\n

The Allegheny Front news organization reported that about 80 new projects have been proposed in the state. Plans for one is a flash point in Homer City, Indiana County.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are educating themselves to fight this,\u201d Smit said. \u201cSome are working against having data centers near where people live.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for people to fight for their environmental health. Data is still being gathered for these centers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiesel data centers,\u201d she said, \u201cwill create air quality, water and noise pollution. Companies are overextending the number of data centers they want in Allegheny County, Westmoreland County, Beaver County and Washington County.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can build data centers out of solar, but not in Western Pennsylvania, where they want to pump in more fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also lamented pollution issues arising from the Shell Polymers cracker facility in Beaver County, which since its opening in 2022 has been cited for numerous air quality violations and was hit with a $10 million state fine.<\/p>\n

Wildfires have been rampant across North America for the past couple of months, which also have been concerning. \u201cThe smallest thing can start a wildfire,\u201d Smit said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never seen anything like this. They\u2019re a bad product of global warming, and global warming is a direct result of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy,\u201d she said, lamenting that the Trump administration \u201csays frack, frack, frack.\u201d<\/p>\n

In summary, she added: \u201cPeople have to realize global warming is real.\u201d<\/p>\n


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