After more than a year of delay, Allegheny County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to increase permit fees for facilities that produce air pollution.
Revenue from the fees is meant to fill a hole in the budget for the county’s air quality program.
“Although we would’ve liked to have arrived at this moment earlier, we are glad it is here tonight,” said Mon Valley resident and environmental advocate Lisa Graves-Marcucci prior to the vote.
The federal Clean Air Act’s Title V requires polluters to obtain operating permits every five years. In Allegheny County, those fees fund the health department’s Air Quality Program, which enforces air quality regulations. But the fee structure hasn’t changed since 2021, leaving the department with a multi-million-dollar structural deficit. The program faced a $1.8 million shortage in 2024.
Increases for the fee schedule approved Tuesday range from $1,100 to extend an installation permit (a 46.5% hike) to a $50,800 fee for permitting new sources of pollution – a nearly 600% increase. Fees for asbestos-related permits will also go up.
Clean air advocates want to see pollution permit fees increased in Allegheny County
“After nearly half a decade of inaction, we are adequately funding the Allegheny County Health Department to achieve our air quality goals,” said county executive Sara Innamorato in a statement. “I am proud that we got this done together.”
The proposals were first introduced more than a year ago, but were twice sent back to council’s committee on health and human services after members determined they didn’t have enough support to pass the full council. The county code requires that any change in fees charged or collected by the county must have support from a two-thirds supermajority on council.
Until Tuesday evening, only eight of council’s 15 members had been willing to vote in favor, leaving it two votes short. Had the fee structure failed in a vote by the full council, the proposal would have to be reintroduced, made available for public comment and again approved by the county Board of Health — a process that could take months.
Some council members had voiced concerns that the hikes might dissuade businesses from settling in Allegheny County. At the time they were introduced last year, U.S. Steel opposed the increases, telling WESA in a statement they would “not lead to reductions in emissions or improve the overall air quality for county residents,” but rather “squeeze businesses that are already dealing with increased operational costs.”
U.S. Steel has since been acquired by Nippon Steel, which has pledged to make upgrades to the facilities in its Mon Valley Works. It’s unclear if the company still opposes the fees: Officials did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Environmental groups have been lobbying for the fee increase since it first came before council last year. Dozens returned to the Gold Room Tuesday to urge its passage, and got good news early on, after council president Pat Catena said the hike had the requisite support even before the public comment period.
Indeed, all 13 council members present for the vote approved the new fee schedule. (Jack Betkowski and Suzanne Filiaggi were absent.)
“We as residents of Allegheny County deserve and have the right to clean air,” said Alexis Oltmer-Bergmann, an advocacy coordinator with Clean Air Council. She noted that Pennsylvania’s state constitution is one of a handful in the U.S. that guarantees “a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural … environment.”
“The [state Department of Environmental Protection] and local elected officials need to hold corporations operating in our state accountable to our environmental health and well-being,” she said.
County council member Paul Klein, who chairs the health and human services committee, said the vote sends a message to residents that “here in Allegheny County, public health is a priority, and we are committed to ensuring that our public health department has the resources to do the vital work that is necessary to keep us safe.”
