Monongahela River Valley in Pennsylvania Due for Greater Air Pollution Regulations

The Mon Valley has a long history of significant air pollution

From an Article of Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP), Allegheny County, Penna., July 15, 2021

The Allegheny County Board of Health (ACBH) on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve long-sought changes to local air pollution regulations aimed at reducing particulate matter in the Mon Valley during periods of stagnant weather patterns which are often a driver of subpar air quality and exceedances of state and federal standards.

Preceding the BOH vote was a special meeting of the Allegheny County Air Advisory Committee earlier this week, where minor language tweaks were presented and Air Quality Chief Jayme Graham told members: The Mon Valley Episodic Weather regulation garnered more than 400 comments – all but two of which were in favor of the new rules.

The committee – which includes GASP Executive Director Rachel Filippini – voted unanimously to recommend approval of the new rules.

The regulation will require facilities in the defined Mon Valley area that produce more than 6.5 tons of PM 2.5 annually and/or more than 10 tons of PM 10 annually to create and submit to ACHD “Mitigation Plans” for periods when poor air quality is forecast.

Please note that ACHD predicts this will affect 18 facilities in the 32 listed municipalities.

During the “Watch” phase, facilities such as U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works must conduct basic checks to ensure equipment is in good working order but also ensure they have adequate staff to take actions required under the “Warning” phase. Once a “Warning” is issued, facilities must undertake the actions listed in the mitigation plans they filed with ACHD. The specific actions will be catered to each facility and approved on a case-by-case basis.

Although the bulk of the regulation addresses industrial sources of particulate matter pollution, the proposed change will also ban all wood-burning activities when a Mon Valley Air Pollution Watch or Warning has been issued in the defined municipalities.

You can read more about the meeting and check out the comments GASP submitted in support of the new rules on our website.