CMU's air pollution-spotting Breathe Cam network expands to Mon Valley

Carnegie Mellon University is expanding its network of air pollution monitoring cameras to the Mon Valley.

Cameras monitoring the air around three facilities in U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works went online Tuesday morning, including ones at the Clairton Coke Works, the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock and the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin.

Images from the cameras can be viewed at breatheproject.org .

Tuesday's launch coincides with the United Nations' World Environment Day, according to a news release announcing the new cameras.

The plants were chosen because of reports of unpleasant and peculiar odors in those areas by residents using CMU's SmellPGH app. Both the cameras and the SmellPGH app are projects of the CREATE Lab inside CMU's Robotics Institute and funded by The Heinz Endowments.

“We hope to get a better idea about what is happening by observing three of the valley's largest pollution sources,” said Randy Sargent, who directs Breathe Cam for CREATE Lab.

The new cameras join CMU's Breathe Cam Network, a series of cameras throughout the Pittsburgh area monitoring air quality since 2014.

The cameras capture panoramic, high-resolution photos that can show smog and other pollutants in the air. The lab already had cameras pointed at Pittsburgh's Downtown and North Shore and at DTE Energy's Shenango Coke Works on Neville Island. DTE closed the coke plant in 2016.

Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aaupperlee@tribweb.com, 412-336-8448 or via Twitter @tinynotebook.