1 week Ago By Julia Zenkevich
Allegheny County Council is slated to vote next week on a series of fee increases for facilities that produce air pollution. Supporters say the proposal comes at a critical moment for efforts to improve local air quality. They argue the funds are necessary to address a structural deficit in the county air quality program’s operating budget.
“To not pass this particular fee increase [would] be a step backwards for air quality in Allegheny County,” said Patrick Campbell, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution. The federal Clean Air Act’s Title V requires sources of air pollution to obtain operating permits every five years. In Allegheny County, those fees fund the health department’s Air Quality Program, which enforces air quality regulations.
According to program data, it faced a $1.8 million funding gap in 2024. Increases for the proposed fee schedule range from $1,100 for extending an installation permit (a 46.
5% hike) to $50,800 for permits for new sources of pollution (a nearly 600% increase). Some members of a council committee on health and human services questioned the increases, citing concerns that the steep hikes could dissuade businesses from putting down roots in Allegheny County. Embattled U.
S. Steel also opposed the new fees, saying they’re higher than those imposed on polluters in other Pennsylvania counties. “While the increases would not result in layoffs or facility closures for U.
S. Steel, the ACHD 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,” the company said in a statement. “The proposed increases will not lead to reductions in emissions or improve the overall air quality for county residents," the company said.
"They will only squeeze businesses that are already dealing with increased operational costs.” But many environmental advocates agree with GASP’s Campbell, who said the companies are “able to handle these fee increases that, when we compare that scale to their profit margins, are minimal.” Campbell added that the fees are tiered, so major polluters pay more while facilities that emit less pollution pay less.
Matthew Mehalik, executive director of environmental advocacy group the Breathe Project, said the increases will allow the county to deal with a large permit backlog identified in a 2018 report from the Environmental Protection Agency and better enforce air quality standards. “The only entity, really, that benefits by not making these fees higher are the polluters themselves,” Mehalik said. County council member Paul Klein, who chairs the health and human services committee, acknowledged that the increases are “not insignificant.
” But “there are costs associated with this that business has to own up to.” Passing the fee increases are “a way to say, ‘Yeah, we're really committed to’” improving local air quality, Klein said. “[W]e want to act on what we believe are best practices in terms of doing all we can to ensure better air quality and have fewer environmental hazards in this region.
” The full council will vote on the increases at its Dec. 17 meeting. Klein said he’s hopeful they’ll be approved.
Without the fee increases, Campbell said, it will be more difficult for the health department to enforce air quality standards. The department would have to “severely cut back” the air quality program, which would result in longer processing time for permits and less efficient enforcement. “None of those things are good for anybody who has a set of lungs in Allegheny County.
Because that means it's going to take longer to see when there are pollution violations from major facilities in particular,” and for enforcement actions to be brought forth, he said. “To me, this is just a common-sense, no-brainer way to protect people here in Allegheny County.”.
