How Is Pittsburgh Impacted by Climate Change?

We’re lucky to not have the threat of hurricanes and wildfires here, but Pittsburgh’s slopes of shale, sandstone, coal, and clay are especially vulnerable to landslides — and it’s only going to get worse with dramatic increases in rainfall. Fun fact from this PublicSource article: The name Monongahela is believed to derive from a Native American word meaning “river with the sliding banks.” Fitting!

So how much should we worry? And what’s being done? There’s some good and bad news.

🔴 Landslides can be financially devastating because there currently isn’t any insurance to cover them.

🟢 A bill, introduced by Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Brighton Heights, and co-sponsored by Rep. Valerie Gaydos, R-Sewickley, would create a new insurance program for landslide victims, which would also cover slope movement and sinkholes.

🔴 There isn’t public money to cover landslide disasters on private properties, and the city spends millions in taxpayer dollars annually to deal with landslide effects on public infrastructure.

🟢 The city budgeted more than $5 million for landslide remediation in 2023, and Mayor Ed Gainy created a new team within the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure assigned to landslides.

🔴 The city is struggling to hire – not only for this team, but across the board.

🟢 The City Planning Department is updating maps to predict landslide-prone areas and make informed decisions on zoning and developments.

🟢 It’s also operating a pilot program to address greenway issues, clear debris, develop trails, plant slope stabilizing trees, and use goats to weed out invasive species.

🟢 Pitt engineering professors are working on a digital infrastructure effort, Cyberwater, that will model the impact of climate change locally and help officials understand at-risk areas.

Read more in Quinn Glabicki and Charlie Wolfson’s report for PublicSource. (And hear from Charlie on the pod today!)