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The Allegheny County Board of Health voted Wednesday to substantially increase permitting fees for a range of pollution generating facilities under its Air Quality Program.
The proposed changes would amend the county’s Article XXI regulation and alter the Air Quality Program Fee Schedule and the Air Quality Program Asbestos and Abrasive Blasting Fee Schedule.
To take effect early next year, the changes must be approved by the Allegheny County Council. The health board, which oversees the Allegheny County Health Department [ACHD], voted 5-1 in favor of the fee increases.
Prior to its Wednesday meeting, the health board held a public hearing and extended a 30-day public comment period. With a total of 162 distinct commenters, 158 expressed support for the proposed changes, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the county controller’s office and multiple environmental advocacy organizations.
County council last hiked the fees in 2021, and air quality advocates claim the board’s latest vote as a win.
Lisa Graves-Marcucci, coordinator for community outreach at the Environmental Integrity Project, spoke in favor of the fee changes.
“Increased fees are essential to ensure ACHD can hire and maintain staff members with expertise in the federal Clean Air Act,” Marcucci said before the vote. “The air program is on loan to us from the federal government, and if we cannot properly meet those standards, including proper staffing and proper funding, we could lose the privilege of the air program.”
Increasing permit fees will not only help the department meet budget needs but “will allow the ACHD to properly perform its regulatory function,” said Jay Walker, advocacy coordinator at Clean Air Council.
U.S. Steel is a major source of emissions from plants in the Mon Valley, and the company wrote in response to questions from PublicSource that the increases were “not in line with other agencies” and “much higher than that imposed upon sources located in every other county in the state.”
The steelmaker wrote that the county “failed to conduct any economic analysis before proposing the fee increases, which are bound to have a detrimental impact on businesses throughout the Mon Valley.” They will not, however, result in layoffs of any of the 3,000 local U.S. Steel employees, or facility closures by the company.
They also won’t result in emissions reductions or quality-of-life improvements, according to the company. U.S. Steel’s “steelmaking process is done in the safest and most environmentally responsible manner,” the company continued.
New Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann attended the meeting.
“I’m looking forward to working with my team members and the Health Department, our partners and the community, as well as our community members,” Dr. Vann told the board. “I think that the work that we’re doing here at the Health Department is incredibly important and I know that the work that we’re going to continue to do is going to really bring positive outcomes for our community.”
Amber Frantz is an editorial intern at PublicSource and can be reached at amber@publicsource.org.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
