Voices from the region
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The air in Western Pennsylvania may be out of sight on most days but it is not out of mind for many residents of the region.
Here's a sampling of quotes from some of the more than 150 people interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for this series of articles on high mortality rates for diseases in a region plagued with air pollution problems.
All of them were shown or were told about research done by the Post-Gazette that found respiratory and heart disease and lung cancer claimed the lives of 14,636 more people in the region from 2000 through 2008 than national rates for those diseases would have predicted.
This is what they said:
"Your statistics are staggering but they confirm what we see all the time, coming out of the mills, driving up Route 837. There should be testing and monitoring so we know what's affecting us in the air and water. Realistically, we deserve to be able to breathe and drink water out of the fountain and deserve a longer and healthier life.
"We could build all the beautiful buildings and change the brick and mortar. But if we can't change the air we breathe, we won't be able to live here or we'll be sick."
-- Cheryl Hurt, executive director, Community Economic Development Corp. of Clairton and a fifth-generation resident of Clairton who worked for 10 years in the coke works
"I think energy is a basic human right and that we need all forms of energy to satisfy the demands of the world. A vital part of the energy mix is coal. It provides 50 percent of electricity and it's a major part of the steelmaking process. So coal is essential to our way of life, your way of life. Coal enables us to have the lights on, use your computer, print your newspaper, so I think it's essential."
-- P. Jerome Richey, executive vice president and chief legal officer, Consol Energy
"I'm frustrated when people say we don't have an air pollution problem or that it's just because of one monitor in the Liberty-Clairton area. That's just crazy. We know that air moves around. And they know it when they're smelling something bad."
First Published December 20, 2010 11:46 am
