Coal plant closure led to major drop in kids’ asthma in Pennsylvania
After a coke plant near Pittsburgh shut down, children’s asthma emergencies dropped dramatically, giving scientists rare proof of what happens when dirty air disappears.
Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News.
In short:
- After the Shenango Coke Works closed in 2016, ER visits for pediatric asthma in nearby Avalon dropped 40%, and respiratory-related visits overall fell 20%. The trend held steady over the years that followed.
- The coke-making process had spewed a noxious mix of benzene, sulfur dioxide, and fine particles into surrounding neighborhoods. Once the pollution source disappeared, so did many of the health problems — especially in kids.
- Researchers call the closure a “natural experiment” that provides unusually strong evidence linking fossil fuel pollution to real-time health harms, including new asthma cases in children.
Key quote:
“They’ve shown that the population didn’t change that much. The makeup of the population didn’t change. The only thing that changed was the pollution exposure.”
— Dr. Deborah Gentile, pediatric physician who has studied pediatric asthma near the still-operating Clairton Coke Works, located 20 miles from Shenango
Why this matters:
When the smokestacks went quiet at Shenango Coke Works, it sparked a stunning health transformation and an opportunity that gave science the kind of before-and-after data usually impossible to get outside a lab. When the pollution stopped, so did the damage. Fossil fuel pollution is a health crisis, especially for kids with growing lungs and zero political power.
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