When I was growing up, I would ask my father, who worked in the engineering department at U.S. Steel’s Clairton works, about the white plumes of smoke that would rise up from the plant. Across the river, no trees grow on the hill due to the chemicals that were blown in the wind. He would tell me about all the various chemicals used there. When I asked him why they didn’t stop it, he would say that what we saw was “prosperity.” If we didn’t see the smoke, then no one was working. It hasn’t changed in 60 years.
Charles Taylor
Houlton, Maine