The Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of a Pennsylvania Mill Town

In October 1948, a seemingly average fog descended on the tiny mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania. With a population of fewer than fifteen thousand, the towns main industry was steel and zinc millsmills that continually emitted pollutants into the air. The six-day smog event left twenty-one people dead and thousands sick. Even after the fog lifted, hundreds more died or were left with lingering health problems. Donora Death Fog details how six fateful days in Donora led to the nations first clean air act in 1955, and how such catastrophes can lead to successful policy change. Andy McPhee tells the very human story behind this ecological disaster: how wealthy industrialists built the mills to supply an ever-growing America; how the towns residentsmillworkers and their familieswilfully ignored the danger of the mills emissions; and how the gradual closing of the mills over the years following the tragedy took its toll on the town. See more