Pittsburgh at the 'epicenter' of the climate crisis, local leaders claim at rally

Laura Esposito, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Feb 8, 2025

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PITTSBURGH — An assault on climate protection is also an assault on the Pittsburgh region's public health, workforce, and overall well-being.

That was the central message from more than 100 people who rallied Saturday at the Flagstaff Hill Pavilion in Oakland in protest of President Donald Trump’s efforts to derail investment in clean energy and reverse climate protections.

The demonstration was organized by the Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of environmental advocacy organizations, and attracted local leaders, activists and community members who decried the Trump administration’s environmental policies, which they say would hurt the region.

"Cities like Pittsburgh are at the epicenter of the climate crisis," said Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, one of several featured speakers at the rally.

Just days into his second term, Trump issued executive orders with major implications on climate and environmental protections, such as stepping away from global climate action, ramping up domestic oil and gas production, and removing incentives for electric vehicles. The moves were in stark contrast to actions by former President Joe Biden, who made combating climate change a central focus of his single term.

Trump's rollback of climate policies comes on the heels of Earth's hottest year on record, which scientists say contributed to hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events across the globe.

Wilkinsburg Borough Councilwoman NaTisha Washington cited weather events in Pittsburgh as evidence of the rising threat climate change poses to the region. She said the effects of climate change cost Allegheny County "hundreds of millions of dollars" each year.

"Our landslides that we have to repair, our roads that are sinking, we have to pay for our crumbling bridge infrastructures, we are paying for these heat waves as we have to house people in cooling centers, we have to dig up our pipelines," she said.

The Wilkinsburg native also pointed to health issues that have plagued communities for years.

"We have air pollution and lead poisoning that is stopping our children and our workers and our parents and our people that are helping our sick," she said.

The Pittsburgh metro area ranks among the worst in the nation for pollution, according to a yearly report from the American Lung Association, which released its most recent data in April.

But some improvements have been noted: Pittsburgh ranked 26th in the nation in daily particle pollution, marking the first time it was left out of the top 25 in the report's 25-year history.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., said the region's history with pollution and labor are two primary reasons Pittsburgh sits at the center of environmental justice.

"(It) positions Pittsburgh to do things that other places in our country don't know how to do," she said. "This is a union town and a movement town, and it's also a climate action town."

Lee cited her upbringing in the Mon Valley and its poor air quality as the foundation of her political career. Before she announced her bid for Congress, Lee said she was repeatedly told that running on climate issues in Western Pennsylvania would make it impossible for her to be elected. Her win proved that untrue, she said.

"We said that we don't want more drilling, we don't want more pollution in our communities, that we can have good jobs, good union paying jobs, and clean air and water; and the people of this region showed up time in and time out and said that we agree," she said.

Lee told rallygoers this alone was a reason not to feel discouraged by the Trump administration's blows to the climate movement and other social justice issues.

"If we didn't have power, you would not have sent a Black woman, poor from the Mon Valley, talking about environmental racism, to fight for a Green New Deal on the national stage," she said.

"We sent that from Pittsburgh, we will send more. And the next message that we will send from Pittsburgh is, hell no, Donald Trump."

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