ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa (PTTP) – At about 6:00 AM on Wednesday morning, Pittsburgh news media erupted at the mention of their cities’ name in an annual report by the American Lung Association (ALA) called the “State of the Air”.
In the report, the Pittsburgh Metropolitan area – Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV – was ranked 20th worst for 24-hour particle pollution out of 223 metropolitan areas and 14th worst for annual particle pollution out of 200 metropolitan areas around the continental United States.
Ken Zapinski, Director of Research and Public Policy at Pittsburgh Works Together, promptly issued a press release stating that the ALA’s report was “misleading,” and that it “distort[ed] facts and disregard[ed] accepted air quality standards established by federal regulators.”
Pittsburgh Works Together is a coalition of union leaders and officials from the manufacturing, steel, and energy sectors, whose associations include U.S. Steel, Peoples Utility Company, and National Fuel.
This is an issue of framing, asserted Zapinski – of the perspective in which the report was depicted to the public. Only one county in the metropolitan area of Pittsburgh received an “F” grade, and that was Allegheny County. The other counties in the area received one “A”, five “B’s”, and two “C’s”, and three counties reported no data.
Nonetheless, many news media sources produced headlines reading “Pittsburgh area among worst for air quality” and “Pittsburgh Area’s Air Quality Poor”.
Pittsburgh Public Works feels that the metropolitan area of Pittsburgh is an area with average air pollution, but because of one county, it was portrayed as one of the worst in the nation.
If you asked Ken Zapinski, he would tell you that the American Lung Association purposefully allowed for these generalizations because it emphasizes the necessity of their cause – ultimately driving profit.
The natural assumption when reading that a legacy industry is refuting damaging health claims is that they are trying to save their business. Less often is it considered that a medical organization may be doing the same thing.
It is evident that there are two sides to this story, and it seems that the duty of discerning the truth has fallen on the public.