Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena sent a proposal to increase permitting fees for polluters back to committee on Tuesday evening.
The measure, which if passed would substantially increase permitting fees for a range of pollution-generating facilities under the Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Quality Program, will now head back to council’s Health and Human Services committee, and could be re-introduced as early as January, according to Councilor Paul Klein, who chairs the committee.
To pass, Klein said, the measure requires 10 votes from the 15-member body rather than the typical simple majority of eight.
“We do have eight votes, but eight is not 10,” Klein said.
It wasn’t immediately clear who the dissenting members were.
Had the proposal been voted down, it would restart the entire process, Klein said. He suggested that Catena instead send the proposal back to committee, “rather than starting all over from ground zero.” Catena obliged.
The fee increase proposal was recommended to council by the county’s Board of Health, which oversees the Health Department and voted 5-1 in favor of the increases in September.
But some, including U.S. Steel and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, have expressed concerns that the increase would harm business and industry. At least six council members, according to Klein, share that concern.
U.S. Steel was pleased with council’s decision, according to a statement to PublicSource.
“The increase in permit fees will not lead to reductions in emissions or improve the overall air quality for county residents,” company spokesman Andew Fulton wrote in an email.
“They will only fuel the Health Department’s continued fiscal irresponsibility on the backs of businesses that are already dealing with increased operational costs.
“We look forward to working collaboratively with the Allegheny County Health Department as we continue producing steel in the safest and most environmentally responsible manner.”
The measure would amend the county’s Article XXI regulation and the Air Quality Program Fee Schedule.
During the Tuesday evening meeting, 19 residents and environmental advocates spoke before council in favor of the fee increases.
Many of those speakers said they were motivated by public health concerns, and saw the proposal as an avenue to funding the Air Quality Program, which has struggled financially in recent years. A fully funded department, supporters said, would be better staffed and more effective in carrying out its duties, which include enforcing the federal Clean Air Act, potentially providing better relief for the county’s chronic air pollution.
“County council needs to equip our new Health Department director and our new Board of Health with the resources needed to be successful,” said Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, a group of more than 60 organizations advocating for public health and air quality.
“At a time of budget crunches,” he told council, “these proposed permit fee increases lower the costs of government on taxpayers and instead focus the costs on the operators of facilities. The largest emitters can afford the fee increases, and are no threat to business.”
He pointed to U.S. Steel, which, as of September, drew a 12-month rolling revenue of more than $16 billion. “They can afford to pay for a $53,000 permit every five years.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended in a 2018 audit that Allegheny County increase its permit fees, and county council last hiked the fees in 2021.
“County residents did not get the gift of health this holiday season tonight,” Mehalik wrote in a statement to PublicSource. “But there is hope for 2025.”
Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at PublicSource and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at quinn@publicsource.org and on Instagram and X @quinnglabicki.
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