The Allegheny Front

The Allegheny Front is a celebrated public radio show that focuses on environmental topics in Western Pennsylvania. It is broadcasted on WESA in Pittsburgh and various other stations across the area. Launched in 1991 on WYEP 91.3 FM, The Allegheny Front emerged as Pittsburgh was developing a heightened awareness of urban environmental issues. The program was initially created by volunteer Lucy Laffitte, who named it after the prominent escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains located to the east of Pittsburgh. It offers listeners updates on environmental news, highlights local events, and features interviews with individuals engaged in the regional environmental movement.

National

English

Radio Program

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#1025007

United States

#279417

News and Media

#8180

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

Ohio River restoration plan hopes to rally federal support for watershed

1 week ago | alleghenyfront.org | Reid Frazier

More than 30 million people across 14 states rely on the Ohio River watershed for drinking water, recreation, and for their local economies. But the river and its many tributaries receive millions of pounds of pollution every year from abandoned mines, industry, agriculture and sewage systems. The Ohio River Basin Alliance, a group of agencies, research institutions and nonprofits, has been working on a restoration plan to improve water quality in the Ohio River basin.
Atlantic Shores seeks to cancel offshore wind contract with N.J., but says it hasn’t abandoned the project

1 week ago | alleghenyfront.org | Susan Phillips

This story comes from our partners at WHYY. New Jersey offshore wind developer Atlantic Shores says it’s not abandoning its 195 turbine project planned off the coast of Atlantic City, despite asking the state’s Board of Public Utilities to cancel its current contract to provide enough electricity to power about 700,000 homes. “This filing marks the closing of a chapter, but not the end for Atlantic Shores,” wrote Atlantic Shore’s CEO Joris Veldhoven in a statement.
Pennsylvania water providers say they're complying with federal PFAS regulations

1 week ago | alleghenyfront.org | Zoë Read

Aqua Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania American Water, the state’s largest water providers, say they’re reducing toxic PFAS chemicals from drinking water as the Trump administration threatens to weaken federal regulations on the so-called “forever chemicals.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implemented regulations last year requiring water providers to test and treat the “forever chemicals” to almost zero by 2029.
The woods in central Pennsylvania are alive with the sound of cicadas

1 week ago | alleghenyfront.org | Anne Danahy

This story is part of our series, Wild Pennsylvania. Check out all of the other stories in the series here. You may have heard them in parts of Pennsylvania or seen them buzzing around — periodical cicadas have emerged and in some places, including Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County, they’re out in force. And they’re loud. “This is Brood XIV.
Australians call on Pittsburgh journalists to save ancient forestThe Allegheny Front

2 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Julie Grant

Demand is surging for aluminum. It’s used in everything from smartphones and computers to solar panels. The raw material to make aluminum, bauxite, is mined near the Jarrah Forest in western Australia by Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, which is looking to expand its massive operations there. PublicSource reporters Jamie Wiggan and Quinn Glabicki recently visited the area and wrote about the impact of the mine. The three part series was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
In Western Pa., a new mine expansion has residents nearby worried

2 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Reid Frazier

Jim Miller stands in front of the log home he and his wife built nearly 20 years ago in the woody hills of Westmoreland County. He points to a section of forest behind a fence post just off his driveway “That’s about 73 feet from the corner of this house,” he says. That point is the closest his house gets to the underground workings of Rustic Ridge #1 mine, an active coal mine about 300 feet below the surface.
Despite court order, black lung screening program still not fully functional

2 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Curtis Tate

Last week’s black lung conference in Summers County, West Virginia, was the first since the Trump administration terminated, then restored, a program that screens miners for the disease. Last month, a federal judge ordered the Respiratory Health Division of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to resume the program, which is based in Morgantown. But according to those who work closely with the program, it is still not fully restored.
Pennsylvania researchers see tick population and related diseases ticking up

2 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Kiley Koscinski

On a recent afternoon, Nick Baldauf was dragging an 11-square-foot piece of white cloth across dry leaves and dirt at Schenley Park. Baldauf, the vector control coordinator for the Allegheny County Health Department, is collecting wild ticks to study as part of a surveillance program with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. “What we’re doing is trying to identify what’s out there, when they’re feeding and what the infection rates of these ticks are,” he said.
Explosion, smoke reported at Shell plant in Beaver County

3 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Reid Frazier

An explosion was reported at Shell’s ethane cracker in Beaver County Wednesday afternoon. A company spokeswoman stated that smoke was seen coming off of a furnace unit at the plant around 2:20 p.m. She said the incident was managed by site personnel, and the smoke dissipated. The company dispatched a team from an air monitoring company to the site, and state and local agencies have been notified.
Solar savings for Clairton, other Pa. schools at risk from proposed federal cuts

3 weeks ago | alleghenyfront.org | Rachel McDevitt

This story comes from our partner, 90.5 WESA. Seventy-four Pennsylvania schools are now able to build their own solar energy projects through a new grant program. But their anticipated savings could shrink if Congress approves cuts to clean energy incentives in the upcoming budget. Pennsylvania’s Solar for Schools program was designed to help schools afford to switch to solar and take advantage of federal clean energy incentives approved by the Biden administration.