The Shenango coke works on Neville Island, just west of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River, closed down in 2016. Coke is a refined form of coal used in steelmaking, made by baking coal at very high temperatures. The process creates toxic air pollution, and plants like Shenango and US Steel’s Clairton Coke Works have been the subject of community opposition for years.
A group of researchers wanted to see what effect Shenango’s closing had on the health of surrounding communities. They’ve published two studies on the plant’s closure. The first showed cardiovascular ER visits plummeted after the plant shut down. The latest, which came out in July, showed a similar drop in respiratory ER visits.
The Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier spoke with one of the study’s co-authors, George Thurston, a professor at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine…