The Pittsburgh-based Group Against Smog & Pollution now has available on demand the webinar What The Donora PA Smog Disaster Can Teach Us 74 Years Later.

The Donora Smog Disaster of 1948 is perhaps the most infamous air pollution event in American history and it happened in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

That weekend of horrific air quality killed 20 people and sickened thousands more, but it also galvanized residents to take environmental action – a movement that culminated in the creation of the Clean Air Act.

During our Making the Connection: What the Donora Smog Disaster Can Teach Us 74 Years Later event, attendees listened to a panel of local experts including:

— Mark Pawelec and Brian Charlton, historians from the Donora Smog Museum.

— Scott Beveridge, a retired, award-winning investigative journalist from the Observer-Reporter newspaper in Washington County whose work uncovered new details about the disaster and its fallout.

— Myranda Fullerton, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service.

During the 90-minute program, attendees had the opportunity to view rare historical videos, learn from experts how U.S. Steel used a combination of public relations and victim blaming to downplay its role in the killer smog event, and hear heart-wrenching stories of personal loss and environmental damage gleaned from the pages of long-forgotten court documents.

Click Here to watch the webinar.

Visit the Group Against Smog & Pollution website for more information on air pollution and environmental health issues in Western Pennsylvania.

(Photo: Donora at noon during the smog disaster.)

Related Articles:

-- Republican Herald/Scranton Times Editorial: DEP Professes Unwarranted Faith In Shale Gas Drillers  [PaEN]

-- Presentations Now Available From Shale Gas & Public Health Conference In Nov. Hosted By PA League Of Women Voters & University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: We've Got Enough Compelling Evidence To Enact Health Protective Policies For Families Now - By Edward C. Ketyer, M.D., President, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: When It Started, It Was Kind Of Nice, But What Happened Afterwards Really Kind Of Devastated Our Community - By Rev. Wesley Silva, former Council President Marianna Borough, Washington County  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Economically, Socially Deprived Areas In PA Have A Much Greater Chance Of Having Oil & Gas Waste Disposed In Their Communities - By Joan Casey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Living Near Oil & Gas Facilities Means Higher Health Risks, The Closer You Live, The Higher The Risk - By Nicole Deziel PhD MHS, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Real Shale Gas History: Spying & Psychological Operations On PA Citizens 2010-14

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Real Shale Gas History: 12 Articles On Shale Gas Development In PA As Told By The Families and Communities That Experienced It

-- Inside Climate News: Q/A With Eliza Griswold Pulitzer Winning Author Of Deep Dive Into Fracking In PA, How Extractive Industries ‘Gut’ Communities

-- Post-Gazette Guest Essay: Petrochemical Plants Are An Environmental And Economic Dead End For Southwestern PA - By Breathe Collaborative

[Posted: December 16, 2022]

12/19/2022