Health dept. must address poor air quality

At several public events last week, Mon Valley residents expressed legitimate concerns regarding unpermitted releases of sulfur dioxide following the Dec. 24 fire at the Clairton Coke Works. Since the fire, U.S. Steel has been violating its air permit by not passing coke oven gas through its desulfurization plant before flaring or burning for fuel.

The Allegheny County Health Department has been ignoring this air permit problem and misleading the public by suggesting that if there is no “exceedance” at a Liberty monitor two miles away, it does not need to impose additional requirements that would reduce these emissions from the Clarion Coke Works. But this is wrong — a company’s conduct is directly regulated by its air permits, rather than by data at a monitoring station.

In an area that has long failed to meet federal health standards for sulfur dioxide and fine particulates, the real problem here is the total air pollution load on the community. Fine particulates at a Liberty monitor have increased during the past two years, indicating air quality has worsened. Coke oven emissions contain toxic air pollutants such as benzene. (To learn about coke ovens and the Clairton fire, see Clean Air Council’s coke oven website: pacokeovens.org/news).

The ACHD keeps digging itself deeper and deeper. It has not proposed a plan to come into attainment with the revised fine particulate standard, even though it was due over two years ago. The department did propose a plan for sulfur dioxide, but it delayed control requirements until the attainment date, contrary to Environmental Protection Agency policy recommending this be done one calendar year in advance.

And now, after building up its Clean Air Fund by not using money from civil fines and penalties to require emissions reductions, the department seeks to appropriate millions of dollars to renovate a different building for itself. Environmental groups have an ongoing legal challenge.

People should understand the real problem as they prepare for the policy hearing of the Joint Senate and House Democratic Policy Committee at the Clairton Municipal Building today.

Mon Valley residents deserve better.

JOSEPH OTIS MINOTT

Philadelphia, Pa.