This collection of stories uncovered a wide variety of public health threats in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including polluted air linked to elevated child cancer rates; “forever chemicals” being unknowingly spread on farm fields; and a sham lawsuit settlement by a notorious polluter known for sickening residents.
Marusic was the first to report on the disturbing link between air pollution and child cancer rates in Western Pennsylvania. In digging through emissions data, we found the shocking statistic that the “total exposure concentration to coke oven emissions for residents of Allegheny County is 99 percent higher than it is for the U.S. population as a whole, and 88 percent higher than Pennsylvania’s population as a whole.” This came on the heels of her in-depth reporting on location where cancer experts from around the country were meeting. She laid out how and why the region’s air pollution is a major contributor to elevated cancer rates throughout the region.
Marusic also led the region’s coverage of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination, including the investigative story that revealed PFAS-containing biosolids are likely routinely being spread upon Pennsylvania farms. “Approximately 94,000 dry tons of biosolids from 51 sewage treatment plants, many of which are located near known or suspected sites of PFAS contamination, were applied to farm fields throughout Pennsylvania in 2018 alone. None of it was required to be tested for PFAS,” she wrote. As part of this reporting, Marusic combined data from EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online website (ECHO) and data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a map that shows potential sites of contamination throughout the state. In a separate piece, she pressed state officials on why regulation of PFAS was taking so long, leaving the state’s residents exposed to harmful chemicals, concluding “state officials … are restrained by pro-business state laws passed more than 30 years ago and a chemical class that is foreign to most of them.”
And just last month, Marusic took a hard look at a proposed settlement between a notorious polluter and the neighborhood it’s been contaminating for decades. While other news outlets covered it on the surface, she dug into the details and found the settlement would give households very little and would prevent further lawsuits against the company.