GASP joined residents and fellow advocates at a public hearing in West Mifflin Monday to send the message: Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) needs a fully funded Air Quality Program, and the way to get it is through increasing permitting fees on polluters.
You can get all the background info you need on the plan here.
GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell delivered the following comments at the hearing:
Good afternoon. My name is Patrick Campbell, I am the executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), a nonprofit organization working to improve our regional air quality since 1969.
I am here today to speak in support of Allegheny County Health Department’s plan to fully fund its Air Quality Program through increasing fees imposed on polluters.
To put it simply: Air quality remains one of our area’s leading public health issues, and we need to equip our regulators with the resources they need to ensure polluters are playing by the rules.
And right now, it’s clear ACHD does not have those necessary resources.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new issue. Audits dating back at least 10 years have consistently observed that our local Air Quality Program is chronically underfunded and understaffed.
And auditors noted that those funding and staffing deficiencies have contributed to ACHD’s lingering Title V permit backlog, as well as hampered its enforcement and compliance efforts.
While I could stand up here all night sharing the very real, very emotional reasons why Allegheny County needs a fully funded Air Quality Program, the truth is, it’s a legal mandate.
ACHD has been delegated the authority to enforce both federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the control of air pollution in Allegheny County and the federal Clean Air Act requires that ACHD have adequate funding and personnel to carry out that authority.
The Clean Air Act also requires that ACHD’s program for Title V facilities charge fees that are sufficient to cover the cost of administering the program.
Since it is clear that funding that ACHD receives from Allegheny County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are also insufficient to cover the cost of administering the non-Title V side of ACHD’s Air Quality Program, it is entirely appropriate that the polluting facilities that require time and resources from the Air Quality Program pay fees that cover the cost of that time and those resources.
Thank you.
Next stop? The plan must be approved by both the Allegheny County Board of Health and Allegheny County Council. We'll keep you posted as the process proceeds.
Editor's Note: GASP also submitted formal written comments that you can read here.