Posts Tagged ‘Ohio River’
Down the Drain, in Pittsburgh
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ia, Ia… look – there’s one of them now – risen from dark waters to…
Actually, that’s no Lovecraftian ‘Deep One,’ instead it’s the mascot of the ALCOSAN outfit – here in Pittsburgh – and the character’s name is ‘Frankie the Fish.’
It happened, lords and ladies… finally… it happened…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I got to go the sewer plant in Pittsburgh.
GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Three things:
First off – the Newtown Pentacle time warp continues to fibbulate. These shots were captured on the 19th of September of this year, with the posts being written during the second week of October.
Secondly – the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority – aka ALCOSAN – operates an enormous 59 acre sewerage and wastewater treatment plant, along the Ohio river here in Pittsburgh.
The authority holds an annual ‘Open House’ (since 2004 at least) wherein the general public is invited onto the property to see how the sewerage process works, and how tax monies are being spent. Said agency makes a big show of the Open House event, and there’s a carnival style area for families with kids to explore, with staffed booths describing the plant and its operations and there was also a giant fish tank this time around which they said was ‘new.’ I paid near zero attention to all of that.
Additionally, there were also plant tours to attend.
Third – Plant tours, did you say?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After signing up for the tour, my neighbor Sam (who accompanied and drove me to this event) and I split away from each other.
Sam is a lettered Chemist, and his interests were pulling him towards a tour of the various laboratory rooms within the buildings, wherein the water testing is accomplished. I’ve been to DEP’s labs back in NYC, and it was a remarkably unexciting experience from a photographic POV, so I opted for the plant tour instead.
Sam disappeared. Didn’t see him again for around three days, and that was back at HQ in Dormont. Sam’s like that.
The plant tour goers were shepherded onto small shuttle buses, and our first stop was at Alcosan’s Pump House.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh, it’s been so long…
There was a period of around ten years of my life when I was in that sewer plant in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint at least once a month. One learned a great deal during that interval, mainly about how local NYC Government actually works. I learned a lot about urban drainage too.
Pictured is a symbolic map showing the status lights for the various pumping stations found around Pittsburgh, which push wastewater towards the Alcosan system found here at the plant.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pump house itself is contained within a gigantic cylindrical space, and once you enter the red ceramic bricked top level, you’ll realize that you’re standing on a platform/walkway, one which connects to multiple flights of stairs that are all heading downwards. Lots and lots of ‘big’ equipment is everywhere. Cranes on the ceiling, all that jazz.
I never caught our guide’s name but he had a fabulous mustache. He was obviously a Boss, or at least a Senior level employee at Alcosan. He was offering the ‘millions of gallons per hour’ versus ‘square acreage of drainage area’ talk, and not delving too deeply into the various Court orders and ‘Consent Decrees’ Alcosan has been forced to accept by judges and legislatures over several decades to ‘clean up their act.’
This plant was opened in 1959, long before the Clean Water Act set a higher bar for wastewater treatment than existed previously. Saying that, Pittsburgh historically emptied both residential and industrial sewage directly into the rivers, right on through to the 1950’s when this plant opened.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries Pittsburgh had ridiculously high infection rates for water borne diseases like Typhus and Cholera.
A 2007 agreement with the Federal EPA saw Alcosan agreeing to begin a massive and expensive new project, one designed to lower the amount of combined sewer outfall water escaping into the rivers, via the construction of a diversion tunnel in which the overflows could be stored during wet weather events.
A similar sewage retention tunnel plan is part of the the post Superfund Newtown Creek for the NYC DEP, btw. Nobody who is alive right now will see that project even begin, let alone finish though. Perhaps a newborn will see it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above looks down through the cylindrical structure of the Pump House, where the actual machinery that handles the flow is found.
Since this is where most of Allegheny County ostensibly drains to, it’s theoretically the lowest point in Pittsburgh – which our guide described was eleven stories down from the surface, where we were standing. Neat!
You’re looking at the ‘Undaburgh.’
Back tomorrow with more.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Monaca, PA.
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Occasion found your humble narrator, within the confines of his car, alongside the Ohio River, in a municipality called ‘Monaca.’
Atop an island on the Ohio River is found a plastic factory operated by the Shell Corporation. Officially, it’s a ‘cracker plant,’ meaning that raw hydrocarbons enter the place and then get turned into something else via the art of engineers, and chemists.
This plant is a big deal – both economically and environmentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m told that the hydrocarbon feedstock which it manipulates emanates from a nearby horizontal drilling/fracked gas operation. The plastics manufactured here are the sort you’d need if you were planning on making plastic soda bottles.
Basically, that’s a giant garbage machine pictured above, with a century long source of raw material and fuel. Gas comes in one side, and landfill destined ‘forever’ plastic future garbage pours out of the other.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that… jobs, jobs, jobs… blame Joe Biden… blah, blah, blah.
The economic impact of the plant on this locality has been profound, which is something you don’t necessarily need to ‘look up’ to witness.
Fewer abandoned homes locally, businesses on the nearby ‘main drag’ are open and not confined to housing ‘vape shops’ or other low hanging retail fruit. The roads are serviceably paved. There was a Police presence.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
People need plastic bottles, to temporarily possess liquids, don’t they? So what if it’ll take centuries in a landfill for them all to break down into different toxins – if at all. Sigh…
Here’s the official/non environmentalist slanted take/POV on Shell’s garbage factory in Pennsylvania:
Via Google’s AI:
The Shell Polymers Monaca plant is a $14 billion petrochemical complex in Beaver County, PA, completed in late 2022. It transforms ethane from shale gas into polyethylene pellets for plastics, drawing controversy over environmental violations, pollution, and a $1.65 billion state tax break. The plant is exploring a potential sale amid financial and environmental concerns.
Key Details About the Plant:
- Location: Potter Township, Beaver County, along the Ohio River near Monaca, PA.
- Operation: Uses an ethane cracker to produce polyethylene pellets (HDPE and LLDPE) for food packaging, industrial products, and consumer goods.
- Construction: Spans 386 acres, with peak construction employing nearly 9,500 workers.
- Environmental Concerns: The plant has experienced multiple air quality violations, high emissions from flaring, and noise/light pollution, leading to concerns from residents and environmental groups.
- Economic Impact: While promising jobs and economic growth, the project is also notable for the massive, 25-year, $1.65 billion state tax credit incentive, which critics have debated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had navigated himself in this direction (about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh) for a couple of other, and quite mundane, purposes but since I was ‘in the neighborhood’ – why not stop off to get a few shots?
My usual methodology of scanning the path ahead, through the Google Maps street view technology, had been employed. That activity brought me over to a riverfront park, and a few street ends, here in the community of Monaca.
It was lovely, the park, and it provided sweet points of view on an overcast day. One needed to move on, however, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since I was in ‘the neighborhood’ anyway, a visit was also paid to the gargantuan Conway Rail Yard operated by the Norfolk Southern Railroading outfit, over in a nearby PA. community called Freedom.
More on all that tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
West Virginia’s Weirton
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scouting, scouting, scouting.
This shot was actually from the Steubenville, Ohio side of the Ohio River, with West Virginia’s Weirton shoreline visible behind that Towboat.
While shooting these on the Ohio side, a car pulled up and two Juggalo’s got out with a bevy of fishing equipment. They were fully committed to the ICP, as they had facial tattoos of clown makeup and told me they were planning to ‘catch catfish for suppah’ from the Ohio River.
Of course I had to chat with the Juggalo’s. Who am I?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over in Weirton, on the West Virginia side, the ‘big show’ is the massive Weirton Steel Corporation mill – owned by the Cleveland Cliffs outfit – and it was fully shuttered back in 2024 after years and years of industrial activity. This mill used to be the single largest employer in the entire state of West Virginia. I’ve seen numbers stretching as high as 7,500 – as far as numbers of lost steel worker jobs.
Seriously, this is one of the largest industrial operations I’ve ever seen. Bigger than a battleship, and in fact – if you wanted to build a battleship you’d pretty much have to start doing it right here.
Most definitely going to be coming back this way in the future.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A rail spur travels through the central footprint of this mill, and my advance scouting via the Google Maps service suggested that a small rail bridge was nearby. I parked the car in a municipal lot associated with the local government and walked over to that bridge.
I felt it coming before I heard it coming, and I heard it coming before I saw it coming… Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The air gets compressed when a train is nearing, and the thrumming of its diesel engine is palpable. As is my habit, I got my exposure triangle in order for this shot.
Come on already… sheesh… I’m so impatient.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern #5342 appeared, towing a short line of mostly tank cars.
Again, a member of the railroader crew was observed riding on the nose of the engine and looking intently down at the trackage as they went. I’ve been seeing a LOT of this sort of activity lately, specifically by Norfolk Southern employees.
Any ideas, railfans? What do you think they’re doing?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train continued on, heading away on that spur which leads through the closed Weirton mill. I stopped off at a couple of other spots on my way back to the highway to Pittsburgh, but didn’t ‘get’ anything worth sharing.
About 15 minutes later, I was heading for the road back to Pittsburgh, and saw this train again, in the distance.
I’ll definitely be coming back here for a second taste sometime.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Ohio’s Steubenville
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, spanning the Ohio River, and it carries Route 22 between Ohio’s Steubenville and West Virginia’s Weirton. This shot was captured on the Ohio side of the river.
Specifically speaking, this shot was captured March 30th, as are all of the photos you’re going to see today and tomorrow, just in case you’re wondering why spring hasn’t sprung in them.
For the entire time I’ve lived in Pittsburgh, one has passed by highway signs offering road connections to Weirton, West Virginia. I’ve walked on ‘rail trails’ that claim to end in Weirton. I’ve had Weirton on my mind. I looked it up, and ‘wow.’
The realization, that Weirton and Steubenville are only about fifty or so highway minutes away from the driveway where my Toyota dwells… well, that demanded some action.
The two communities parallel each other across the river, as a note.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Today’s shots were captured along the Steubenville shoreline.
Purely scouting, this effort, but as usual I had combed through Google Maps looking for potential ‘POV’s’ that coincided with places where I might be able to park the car. First stop was a gas station called ‘Mr Fuel,’ where I could get my bearings and buy a Gatorade.
There’s a big old industrial plant there, which seems to be in use these days as a waste transfer station.
The architectural design of these industrial buildings, as I’ve been learning, suggests ‘Coal.’ Don’t know that for sure, but they sort of fit in with the style of the post-coal related structures one has learned to recognize back in Pittsburgh. That peaked pattern of brick work on the mill building above is the ‘tell.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I opted to visit the Ohio side first, as the Google Maps based remote survey of the ‘zone’ I committed suggested that there would a larger number of potential points of view, couple with fairly easy car parking for when I was shooting. I should mention that people in this part of the country just park wherever the ‘eff they want, and I’m likely the only driver in the area who is concerned about such matters.
Thank you, NYPD, for ingraining a fear of parking tickets and ruinously expensive towing into my soul for the rest of time.
First visit was nearby the ‘Historic Fort Steuben’ site. They seemed closed, but their parking lot was open. Yay.
From there, I was intrigued by the shuttered 1905 vintage ‘Market Street Bridge’ connecting the two states.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apparently, this bridge is West Virginia’s problem, and a replacement project is in its early stages. This bridge was closed in 2023, as it’s considered structurally deficient – even for pedestrian use – in Ohio, and West Virginia. Wow.
Steubenville has an interesting historic residential district nearby, which I drove through but didn’t photograph at all. Next time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scouting missions like this one are about ‘finding’ interesting subjects for future photographic effort, and are not really about ‘getting busy.’
That 1871 vintage Jefferson County Courthouse, for instance, caught my eye. The only pedestrian activity I observed in Steubenville were people entering and leaving that building, as a note.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was an industrial park along the river which terminated at a marina for launching privately owned boats.
You pass under a huge (supposedly quite historic too) rail bridge, drive past a little park area and then a light industrial area, whereupon the road ends at a marina. The first shot in today’s post is actually from that position, and yeah – I did set up the tripod, and used filters and everything, for that one.
Back tomorrow with the other side.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Serendipitous Scuttler saying ‘Hey Now!’
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Topsburgh to Bottomsburgh part five:
I mention my concept of ‘serendipity’ a whole lot.
The pinion which my intended usage of that term revolves around is ‘Mitch showed up with a camera, and then cool stuff started to happen.’
A different Towboat, which was heading westerly on the Ohio River, was observed from up here on the pedestrian lanes of the gargantua McKees Rocks Bridge. Serendipity.
About to move on, one decided to hang around instead, and that’s when I noticed another Towboat heading in an easterly direction along the Ohio River, towards the confluence point at the center of Pittsburgh where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers form up into the Ohio.
This Towboat is called the Gale R. Rhodes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Serendipity roared again here. Notice that Norfolk Southern rail unit navigating onto the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge? Squeal!
I sure noticed it. Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I tracked the locomotive across the river, and cracked this one out when both the train and that distant Towboat – doing its duty between Pittsburgh’s Ohio River shoreline and Brunot’s Island – were in frame together.
One was obliged to hang about, thereby, until everything fell into place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love it when a plan comes together.
Wish that the locomotive engine was mid span on the bridge for this one, but I’ll take what I can get.
Back to scuttling!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I still had a decent amount of bridge left to cross.
After overflying the river, the McKees Rocks Bridges continues inland for a bit. Part of this is to handle the fairly startling difference in altitude between the bridge’s two sides, the other is to not compromise a rail yard and a down on its luck industrial zone below.
Once down on the ground in the McKees Rocks ‘Bottoms’ section, the timer start running out for this walk, but there was still some fairly interesting stuff I wanted to see down there. There was also that rail shot I was desirous of.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks, and specifically the ‘bottoms’ residential side of the neighborhood is pictured above. I’ve been here before, during the first walk that I experienced over this amazing bridge.
Back next week with a couple more posts from this walk and then… man, oh man, the things I’ve seen and the places I’ve been…
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
