Our Purpose
CHEC exists to help individuals & communities identify the most important environmental problems facing them - empowering & energizing them with tools to prioritize & develop their own action plans towards more sustainable solutions for a healthy environment. Read more»
Project Highlight: PRETA
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Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threat Analysis (PRETA) 2009 - 2010 | |||
| Environmental health encompasses all aspects of the natural & built environment that may affect human health. The characteristics of the Southwestern Pennsylvania region, from its legacy industries to diverse topography, make conducting an analysis of threats & barriers to environmental integrity & health of vital importance. CHEC has been charged by The Heinz Endowments to investigate the environmental threats that pose the highest risk to the Pittsburgh region, through a Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threat Analysis – PRETA for short. The initial scope of PRETA will consist of the 10-county Southwestern PA region. |
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What's New?
Permit Pulled
February 4, 2010 — Pittsburgh City Paper
Plans for a power plant that would have operated by burning waste coal were scrapped when the PA Department of Environmental Protection invalidated its air-quality plan permit on January 20. Robinson Coal had been given the go-ahead for its controversial Beech Hollow Power Plant in 2005, just days before more stringent federal guidelines regarding the burning of waste coal took effect. The permit allowing for the plant's construction would have expired in April of this year.
Link | Article (PDF) | CHEC's Efforts (PDF)
PA Fish & Boat Commission to inspect active marcellus shale drilling sites
Law enforcement officers & biologists with the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (PFBC) will begin conducting field inspections of active drilling sites for Marcellus Shale (MS) gas wells beginning next month (Dec. 2009). "Until now our agency has only reacted to those drilling sites where a problem resulted in material entering a waterway or wetlands," said Dr. Douglas Austen, PFBC executive director. "We are now taking a proactive approach to identify possible problems at a drilling site & to work with the company to ensure necessary measures are in place to minimize the possibility of damaging nearby waterways." Article | CHEC's Efforts
Clean Water Action Reaches Settlement w/Horsehead Corp. over Clean Water Act Violations
December 29, 2009: Settlement includes $10,000 donation to CHEC. Learn more»
In the News... U.S. expands efforts to regulate meds in water
December 22, 2009: Associated Press — Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health. Read more»
PRETA Press Release, Evaluating Environmental Threats in Southwestern PA
November 30, 2009 — CHEC has been contracted by The Heinz Endowments to conduct an analysis of the major threats to the environment and health of people who live and work in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threat Analysis (PRETA) will identify these threats throughout the region's 10 counties. Press Release | Project Info
Save the Date... April 13th Global Health Documentary
Film: FLOW (For Love Of Water),
Speaker: Conrad (Dan) Volz, DrPH, MPH
April 13, 2010 — 3:30-5:30pm
A115 Crabtree Hall, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Sponsored by the Global Health Student Association & Center for Global Health. Learn more»
Our History
CHEC was founded in 2004 at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) under a grant from the Heinz Endowments. Our mission is to improve environmental health in Western Pennsylvania through community-based research.
We take a community-based approach to analyzing the social, economic, political, policy, behavioral & geographical variables associated with environmental health issues, as well as the traditional physical-chemical aspects of local environmental health problems.
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