Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Conner this week released the federally required annual review of the Allegheny County Health Department's Title V Air Quality Fund and permitting function, which showed repeat concerns with a backlog in permit issuance and accounting practices.
Here’s what O’Connor’s office said in a release:
During 2023, the year the audit covers, 30 industrial pollution sources in Allegheny County were subject to Title V permitting.
“Given continuing concerns with air quality in our region, Allegheny County residents are fortunate to have our own air quality monitoring agency with the ability to set and enforce transparent standards for local industries. The Health Department has made progress in recent years in reducing the backlog of outstanding permits and in processing applications more quickly. However, our review shows that further improvements are needed to achieve full compliance with the Department’s obligations under the Clean Air Act,” O’Connor said.
As of the end of 2023, permits had not been issued or denied to five major pollution sources in the County within 18 months of application as required by federal statute. This was up from three outstanding applications at the close of 2022, including two permits outstanding in both years. The Health Department reported that one of these permits had been issued since the end of the audit period and that the others were in various stages of revision or review.
The audit also found that over $584,000 was due to the Title V fund from other funds within the Health Department’s Air Quality program due to cross-charges. Federal law requires funds derived from Title V permitting to be used exclusively for expenditures within the program. Current Department accounting practices could allow these funds to be used for other purposes, auditors found. The same finding was made in the 2022 audit and was not corrected, the audit report states.
“Responsibly maintaining and monitoring funding streams for air quality control across multiple functions of the Air Quality program is crucial to mitigating the impact of industrial pollution on all of our residents, especially highly vulnerable communities near major pollution sources. Along with this examination of the Title V fund, my office issued an audit earlier this year calling for more productive use of the Clean Air Fund designated for community projects related to air quality,” O’Connor said. “I am also in support of the current proposal to modernize the fee structure for air quality permitting, which will allow the Health Department to maintain and improve its work in this area without harmful funding constraints.”
GASP was the first to raise the alarm over ACHD’s Title V permit backlog. Our senior attorney John Baillie has been tracking the backlog and has crafted yearly investigations that you can read here.
GASP staff is currently reviewing the report and will keep you posted. Until then:
Here’s the Independent Auditor’s Report.
And here’s the complete Independent Auditor’s Report on Internal Control and Compliance.