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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County endorsing recent enforcement actions undertaken by the Allegheny County Health Department intended to foster compliance with existing air quality regulations for the good of public health, consistent with the Department’s mandate to oversee the reduction or outright elimination of risks to air quality.
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WHEREAS, according to the American Lung Association’s (ALA) most recent “State of the Air” report, Allegheny County received failing scores for the organization’s assessments of daily and annual particle pollution, as well as for high ozone days. The ALA estimates that the health of more than 1.2 million Allegheny County residents is put at risk, with 20,000 and 100,000 children and adults, respectively, living with asthma joining the more than 65,000 residents living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and more than 100,000 living with cardiovascular disease as populations put at additional risk; and
WHEREAS, both U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant and Clairton Coke Works have been recurrent sources of large-scale pollution production in Allegheny County, severely impacting the air quality for those who live and breathe in our region; and
WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is charged with the protection, promotion, and preservation of the health and well-being of all residents of Allegheny County residents, with a particular emphasis focused on the most vulnerable among us; and
WHEREAS, the 1963 Clean Air Act notes “that the growth in the amount and complexity of air pollution brought about by urbanization, industrial development, and the increasing use of motor vehicles, has resulted in mounting dangers to the public health and welfare, including injury to agricultural crops and livestock, damage to and the deterioration of property, and hazards to air and ground transportation,” and that the reduction or outright elimination of sources of air pollution, as well as general air poll...
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