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Environmental legacy: the impact of the manufactured gas industry in the United States

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Abstract

Levels of concern over the air and water impacts of U.S. industrial wastes have existed for over a century. A focus on land contamination is a more recent development but also has earlier antecedents. Air, water, and land pollution were a matter of societal concern, even though they were not necessarily identified as “environmental” effects, and information about them can be found in a variety of reports and court cases. This paper will examine the pollution effects of the manufactured gas industry—an industry that was widely distributed in cities and towns throughout the nation in the period from approximately 1825–1950.

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Acknowledgments

This is an edited and revised version of an article by Joel A. Tarr, entitled, “Toxic Legacy: The Environmental Impact of the Manufactured Gas Industry in the United States,” Technology and Culture, Volume 55, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 107–147. The revisions were done jointly with Emeritus Professor Francis C. McMichael, Carnegie Mellon University. A considerable amount of the material used in this article was gathered while the first author served as a consultant to law firms involved in litigation involving the industry. The authors would like to thank Christopher Castaneda, Hugh Gorman, Joe Pratt, Christine Rosen, and Leslie Tomory for their insights into the history. We would also like to thank Professor Mitchell Small of the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for his comments on this version and Kelly Good for preparing the location map provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of History, Engineering & Public Policy, and Heinz College of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Joel A. Tarr

  2. Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Francis C. McMichael

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  1. Joel A. Tarr
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  2. Francis C. McMichael
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Correspondence to Joel A. Tarr.

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Tarr, J.A., McMichael, F.C. Environmental legacy: the impact of the manufactured gas industry in the United States. J Environ Stud Sci 5, 1–10 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-014-0197-5

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