Allegheny County Council passed three different air pollution control-related bills during its Tuesday meeting. This comes the same day an air quality alert for fine particulate matter was in effect for the Liberty-Clairton area.
The first bill passed ratified revisions made to the methods section of the Allegheny County Health Department Rules and Regulations. Specific named methods and procedures will be removed from their current section and are to reside in the Allegheny County Source Testing Manual.
This will make it possible for the Health Department to incorporate changing test requirements more quickly as they are promulgated by state and federal agencies, according to the legislative summary.
The second bill revises regulations regarding coke ovens and coke oven gas so that provisions will be at least as stringent as the Pennsylvania and federal regulations, such as those under the Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. The bill also updates inspection regulations to require a source to operate in a manner consistent with its normal air pollution control practices during inspection.
The final air pollution control bill adds regulations regarding reasonably available control technology for major sources of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Such new regulations have been federally mandated and will apply to owners/operators of air contamination sources located at any major NOX-emitting facility or major VOC-emitting facility that existed before August 2018.
All three bills were introduced to the council in September before they received affirmative recommendations from the Health and Human Services Committee. All passed with unanimous approval from all 15 County Council members Tuesday.
According to the state Department of Environment Protection, Tuesday saw higher-than-average concentrations of fine particulate matter due to the strong temperature inversion that occurred in the morning.
A similar alert was issued two days earlier for the Susquehanna Valley Area and the Liberty-Clairton area. Tuesday’s air quality alert was the Liberty-Clairton area’s third of the month. Notably, Clairton is the home to the U.S. Steel Clairton coke works plant.
Particle pollution is tiny drops of liquid or particles of dust, metals and other materials that float in the air and can cause potential harm to one’s respiratory system and worsen health issues such as asthma and heart disease.
While particle matter will wane in the coming days, an upswing may occur over the weekend, according to the Department of Environmental protection.
Hannah is a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Email her hwyman@unionprogress.com.
