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Post-Gazette file photos Like night and day: The city skyline, as seen from across the Monongahela River in 1937, left, and today.

Make no mistake. The Pittsburgh region today faces a number of important environmental challenges.

All you need to do is read the headlines and you'll learn that Western Pennsylvania has one of the highest concentrations of airborne particulates in the country. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its proposed rules regulating mercury from coal combustion. Ground level ozone, caused by auto emissions, industrial pollution and coal-fired electric power plants, is a chronic problem in this region every summer. And whenever it rains more than one-tenth of an inch here, our sewer systems overflow and discharge waste into the three rivers and their tributaries, a problem that could cost this region $3 billion to $10 billion to rectify.

Yes, make no mistake. The Pittsburgh region certainly faces its share of important environmental challenges -- more technically complex and economically daunting than any we've ever encountered. The magnitude of these challenges is mirrored in such places as Denver; Seattle; Tampa, Fla.; Minneapolis; Portland, Ore.; Phoenix; San Francisco and, for that matter, just about every major city in America.

It's no secret that cities have pollution problems, and Pittsburgh is certainly no exception. But for many people in this region, the story ends there. And in that respect, we're missing not only the rest of the story, but also a tremendous economic opportunity.

We certainly haven't forgotten that Pittsburgh was once the poster child of industrial pollution, when the mere mention of "Pittsburgh" evoked an image of "the Smoky City" that haunts us even today. In 1927, H.L. Mencken wrote that Pittsburgh "was a scene so dreadfully hideous, so intolerably bleak and forlorn that it reduced the whole aspiration of man to a macabre and depressing joke." We were, after all, "hell with the lid taken off."

So out of the necessity to deal with this ecological disaster, one of the world's most energized and productive environmental movements in our nation's history was born right here in Western Pennsylvania. Over the ensuing decades, this community eliminated its world-famous smoke problem. We helped nurse our beloved three rivers back to health, and have created some of the most popular outdoor recreational amenities in the eastern United States.

And while our current environmental challenges are certainly significant, most people in this region fail to recognize that these problems are quite similar to those of many other U.S. cities. The transformation of going from the nation's most infamous environmental disaster to a city with relatively common environmental problems is, in our view, extraordinary. And when you then consider that in many respects the quality of our local environment is actually better than that of many other U.S. cities, the story becomes even more remarkable.

Given this stark contrast, Pittsburgh has to be viewed as the most dramatic environmental transformation in American history. In fact, if there is another city that has come back from greater depths than Pittsburgh to achieve a level of environmental quality that we can now claim, we've never heard of it.

One need look no further for validation of this idea than the three rivers, which have become an icon of Pittsburgh's environmental transformation.

Mayor Murphy likes to begin his political speeches with the same story of his boyhood growing up on the North Side. "My mother always used to warn me," said Murphy. "Make sure you're home before dark and don't go near the rivers." Anyone who remembers what the rivers were like in those days knows that they were an unsightly cesspool of industrial pollution and disease, and avoiding them at all costs was a matter of public health and safety.

But this summer, those same three rivers will play host to the CITGO Bassmaster Classic -- the "Super Bowl" of bass fishing that will be televised live nationwide. More than just a major fishing tournament, the Bassmaster Classic is a giant leap forward for Pittsburgh, which has secured a very high-profile event that will showcase our environmental transformation to the nation and mark a significant economic turning point in our region's history. ESPN officials estimate that the Bassmaster Classic will have a financial impact of $45 million to $50 million on the region, and will possibly attract as many as 100,000 visitors.

For perhaps the first time since the days when Pittsburgh was a frontier town and boat-building was its leading industry, the quality of our local environment is responsible for the creation of a whole new dimension of economic growth and opportunity. The Bassmaster Classic, the new developments of the North Shore and Three Rivers Park, the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center and other accomplishments could not have occurred without a "green agenda" for the region that has come about through vision, planning and perseverance. Those achievements have translated into hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. And the quality of our environment has made all this possible.

All this raises an interesting question. Why does it take an outsider such as ESPN, which owns the broadcast and marketing rights to the CITGO Bassmaster Classic and which selected Pittsburgh for this year's event, to recognize this dramatic transformation when many right here in our own community have failed to see it?

Why did it take someone such as Alex Krieger -- the architect and urban planner who helped develop the vision plan for Three Rivers Park, the Riverlife Task Force's master plan for reconnecting the people of Pittsburgh with the three rivers -- to see an opportunity that those of us living here all our lives failed to see?

Why are an increasing number of young families, with the flexibility to live anywhere in the country, moving to Pittsburgh? And why do so many of us find it stunning and peculiar that people with the freedom and ability to live anywhere choose to live here?

We believe that one reason is that Pittsburghers think, feel and act as though we are still, at least in some respects, "the Smoky City" -- that our environmental problems, because of our environmental legacy, are somehow more significant than those in other parts of the county. It simply isn't so.

Cities all over the country have combined sewer overflow problems just like the one we are struggling with here in Allegheny County. Ground level ozone is a national problem, not just a Pittsburgh problem. And although we are fifth on the list of highest airborne particulates, four cities in California rank higher than Pittsburgh.

At the same time, Pittsburgh has more "green building" space than any other city in America, a direct result of this region's green agenda and strong commitment to environmental stewardship. Western Pennsylvania is one of the nation's best examples of rails-to-trails conversion, with hundreds of miles of rail trails, including the Great Allegheny Passage, which will soon link Pittsburgh with Washington, D.C., and be one of the country's great trail systems.

And the Bassmaster Classic is vindication for Pittsburgh's "Smoky City" image and a stamp of approval on the most dramatic environmental transformation in American history.

That transformation is now paying dividends to this region in the form of investment, travel and tourism, outdoor recreation, new business and job creation, and more. Who would have thought, just decades ago, that the quality of Pittsburgh's environment would translate into economic opportunity? As a region we can choose to cultivate and nurture this opportunity, or we can dismiss it as cosmetic, superficial or insignificant in light of the environmental challenges we still face.

Yes, Pittsburgh certainly has its share of environmental problems. And there's always more to do and new issues to address. But the lesson here is that these problems should be viewed within the context of the tremendous progress we've already achieved, thanks to some of our region's local foundations, the environmental regulatory and advocacy communities, and economic development agencies, who recognize that Pittsburgh may have finally arrived as a "green city" and that the quality of our environment is directly tied to economic opportunity.

And that produces a kind of green that everyone understands.

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Post-Gazette file photos Conditions at 10 a.m. were more like night in 1938, left, at the corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues. At right, Marianne Cola, with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, plants bulbs near the same intersection in 2001.