Episode for April 19, 2024: Offshore wind energy, teens & climate action, plastic on Great Lakes beaches
Release Date: 04/19/2024
Episode for December 6, 2024: Sweden is cleaning up steel
The Allegheny Front
We’re more than halfway through our end-of-the-year fundraiser. Between now and December 31st, we hope to raise $15,000 to help fund our work in the year ahead. We’re independent and non-profit, and we don’t get money from WESA, WPSU or any other radio station. So we must turn to you, our listeners, for support. Take action today so we can continue to keep you informed. All donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar to double your impact. And thanks! This week's show: Steel is a major contributor to climate change. Companies in Sweden are starting to solve this problem by...
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Episode for November 29, 2024: Saving the trees
The Allegheny Front
Our end-of-the-year campaign is in full swing and with your help, we can raise important funding to keep our independent, nonprofit newsroom strong. Through Dec. 31st, your monthly donation will be matched 12 times, or your one-time donation will be doubled! Democracy needs news. News needs you. Will you answer the call? And thanks! Pennsylvania's trees are facing a multitude of threats including fungus, insects, and worms, like the ones that cause beech leaf disease. American chestnut trees once thrived in our region, but 150 years ago a fungus wiped them out. Researchers and...
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Episode for November 22, 2024: Christmas trees and drought
The Allegheny Front
We just kicked off our end-of-the-year campaign and with your help, we can raise important funding to keep our independent, nonprofit newsroom strong. Through Dec. 31st, your monthly donation will be matched 12 times, or your one-time donation will be doubled! Democracy needs news. News needs you. Will you answer the call? And thanks! The Northeast has faced a record-breaking drought this fall. It's impacting trees, including the ones we put in our homes at Christmas. Most steel is made using coal. A new report says emissions from plants that are part of this traditional...
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Episode for November 15, 2024: Environmental justice and the hydrogen hubs
The Allegheny Front
Last year the Biden administration tasked federal agencies with considering environmental justice in their decisionmaking. Some say that isn't happening as planning for the seven new hydrogen hubs moves forward nationwide. Water quality in Pennsylvania streams is being hindered by aging dams, many of which are dangerous and obsolete. Climate-related weather like flash floods and extreme heat impacts people experiencing homelessness. Also, an environmental group wants state regulators to tighten water pollution restrictions on a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh which has released oil into the...
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Episode for November 8, 2024: The environment and the election
The Allegheny Front
This week on The Allegheny Front, the election. We'll hear from voters in Pennsylvania who are skeptical about climate change and solutions, like electric vehicles and solar energy. Environmental leaders react to what a second Trump administration will mean for the climate. And, how state elections might and might not impact environmental progress in Pennsylvania.
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Episode for November 1, 2024: PA Senate race, landslides and forest bathing
The Allegheny Front
Democrats are hoping to get climate policy passed by flipping at least three seats in the Pennsylvania State Senate. But a race in Pittsburgh's suburbs is leaving the environment out. More rain as a result of climate change is causing landslides and testing planning decisions made decades ago. Money from the Inflation Reduction Act is starting to flow into Pennsylvania, but future funding could be threatened by a second Trump administration. Also, Pennsylvania will receive about $245 million this year to clean up abandoned mine lands. With the presidential election just days away,...
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Episode for October 25, 2024: Hydrogen, offshore wind and the election
The Allegheny Front
What's at stake in the upcoming presidential race? Republicans say they want to repeal Biden’s big climate law, but the law also includes subsidies for a product oil and gas companies are interested in—hydrogen. Independent research after the East Palestine train derailment found many of the same chemicals that were officially reported in the aftermath. But researchers also found a number of other chemicals in places where officials were not necessarily testing. A group is trying to convince the neighbors to tackle yardwork more naturally. Also, the Three Mile Island nuclear plant...
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Episode for October 18, 2024: A small town pivots after coal
The Allegheny Front
After a coal-fired power plant closed last year, residents of the southwestern Pennsylvania community are trying to make a go of tourism by cleaning up its legacy pollution. A new environmental history book about Pennsylvania aims to include multiple perspectives. New color-correcting viewfinders in some state parks will allow people who are colorblind to enjoy the autumn leaf show. Also, new federal funds will help remove lead paint in buildings across Pennsylvania. A nonprofit is launching a pilot project in Pennsylvania to lease rooftop solar installations to low- and moderate-income...
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Episode for October 11, 2024: EVs and the presidential election
The Allegheny Front
Former President Trump has been claiming there is a Biden electric vehicle mandate. There isn’t one, but the rhetoric has some EV advocates concerned. A new study shows support for leasing land for solar projects in Pennsylvania farming communities. Volunteers are knocking on doors to get people who care about the environment and climate change to vote. Also, lead drinking water pipes in the U.S. must be removed within 10 years. A new survey looks at Pennsylvanians' attitudes toward fracking. A Weirton plant that makes batteries to store wind and solar energy gets a $150 million grant...
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Episode for October 4, 2024: Biogas, hydrogen buses and whitewater recreation
The Allegheny Front
Even though a president couldn't ban fracking in Pennsylvania, it's still being talked about this campaign season. We fact-check what's being said. In light of the East Palestine train derailment, advocates are pushing for more inclusion in disaster planning for people with disabilities. A new theatrical production hopes to entertain and educate people about a fuel source that comes from our own food scraps and the back end of cows. Also, EPA has finalized a consent order with a hazardous waste landfill to lower its pollution discharges into a Westmoreland County stream. Two Clearfield County...
info_outlineThis week on The Allegheny Front, as the transition to cleaner energy ramps up, a port is being built in New Jersey for the massive wind turbines headed into the Atlantic Ocean. And we talk with the author of a new report on tiny pieces of plastic litter on Great Lakes beaches. Plus, teens in Pittsburgh look to one another to solve the climate crisis.
Also, the Environmental Protection Agency releases new rules to reduce cancer risk from hazardous air pollution near chemical plants. Federal mine regulators publish a long-awaited rule to the amount of toxic silica dust mine workers can legally be exposed to. And a look at a few examples from the more than 70 projects that have been funded through a plan to close a coal plant in Centralia, Washington.