Group to sue over county’s air pollution permits

The Clean Air Council has filed notice it will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unless the agency forces the Allegheny County Health Department to review and issue long overdue operating permits for many of the county’s biggest industrial air pollution sources.

The statewide council announced the filing Monday, saying the EPA hadn’t acted on its October 2016 petition that sought sanctions against the health department for being chronically late in issuing or renewing the Title V permits. The 180-day notice is a requirement for filing a lawsuit in federal court.

According to the council’s October 2016 petition, the health department failed to process operating permits for 22 of the county’s 32 major air pollution sources within 18 months as the federal Clean Air Act requires, with two permit renewals pending for more than 20 years and another for 19.

“The county’s longstanding backlog has the result of either undermining or eviscerating the public participation requirements of the Clean Air Act,” said Christopher Ahlers, a staff attorney with Clean Air Council.

Monday, a ACHD web page chart of Title V permit status showed that as of mid-January, 19 Title V permits are issued and up to date, but permit renewal applications for eight others are older than 18 months. Two of

those have been pending for more than 15 years and five are7 years old.

Three of the county’s big industrial emissions sources —Alcosan in Woods Run, Allegheny Ludlum in Harrison and Eastman Chemical Resins Inc. in Jefferson Hills — have never been issued a TitleV permit.

A “major source” is an industrial facility that emits or has the potential to annually emit 100 tons of any air pollutant, 10 tons of any hazardous air pollutant or 25 tons of a combination of hazardous pollutants. The Title V permit allows interested parties — federal and state agencies, business and industry, environmental groups, and affected communities and individuals — to know the requirements that apply or do notapply to a major source.

Major sources can legally continue to operate under terms of their old permits while awaiting renewal every five years, but lengthy delays can make it difficult for the public to review permit conditions or know when emitters are in violation of those limits. Failure to follow the permitting and renewal schedules can also thwart public input on a facility’s operations, said Joseph Otis Minott, Clean Air Council executive directorand chief counsel.

“The department’s systemic delays indicate that it is failing to ensure that the public is sufficiently involved in protecting themselves and their communities from air pollution,” Mr. Minott said, “and failing to ensure that some of the largest and most dangerous sources of air pollution in Pennsylvania are operating in compliance with air qualitylaws and regulations,”

Ryan Scarpino, a health department spokesman, issued a statement saying the ACHD does not comment on lawsuitsor legal matters.

The EPA did not respond toa request for comment.