In the Air: Visualizing What We Breathe (Cheswick Power Plant to Close)

VIDEO: Photo Exhibit Memorialized How County’s Sole Remaining & Soon-to-Shutter Coal-Fired Power Plant Polluted So Many Lives for So Long
In mere days the sole remaining coal-fired electric generating plant in Allegheny County is scheduled to cease operations, ending a decades-old air pollution horror story for so many local residents living, working, and recreating near the facility.
While court documents and enforcement orders - one of which occurred as recently as Aug. 17, 2020 - tell the tale of Cheswick Generating Station’s dereliction in complying with air quality regulations, they don’t effectively illustrate the impact the facility’s emissions had on our friends and neighbors.
That’s why GASP thought it was important to put the spotlight on the powerful work of Pittsburgh-based photographer Lynn Johnson, who was part of a 2016 exhibit titled “In the Air” that explored the relationship between some of the area’s most prolific polluters and the people and places that surrounded them.
We’ll let our veteran board member Roger Day tell you more. Roger produced this amazing video that lets everyone know that some air quality horror stories do have a happy ending