South Allegheny officials are welcoming further air quality tests around the district's middle and high school after high levels of a carcinogen turned up in a sample earlier this year.

Federal regulators named the Liberty campus on Thursday as one of four in the area that was tested but not cleared from health concerns. Another six months of testing has started and will conclude in February, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. After that, the federal agency will decide whether there is a problem and what corrections are necessary.

One of 12 tests at the school showed high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, said Jim Thompson, air quality program manager at the Allegheny County Health Department. The school is downwind of the Clairton Coke Works, which emits small amounts of benzene, he added.

It's one reason the district was one of two to join the Heinz Endowments' Breathe Project to improve regional air quality, district spokeswoman Laura A. Thomson said.

"I think the ongoing tests are a good thing," school board President Luke Riley said. "They let us know what we have to deal with."

The agency requested testing for heavy metal pollution, volatile organic compounds and other air toxins at Sto-Rox Middle and High schools and at Clairton. The EPA found no health concerns for school children and employees and ended the testing, according to a news release from the agency.

Plant owner U.S. Steel is making long-term improvements at the Clairton Coke Works. Residents say pollution used to be much worse. Environmental regulators have pushed for upgrades to prevent long-term exposure problems such as cancer.

"There was a lot more soot when I was a kid, I can tell you that," said Riley, a lifelong Liberty resident. "There was thick, black soot everywhere. But I guess it's the things you can't see that get you."

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