EDITORIAL – Air Quality Program vital for Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has come a long way since its “smoky city” days. As an industrial city built upon… Pittsburgh has come a long way since its “smoky city” days. As an industrial city built upon its steel production, Pittsburgh was, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, murky, smoggy and gray. In 1868, author James Parton even dubbed the city, “hell with the lid off.”

And so, following World War II, a clean-air plan was initiated to pull Pittsburgh out of the foggy shadows. The program is still in effect many years later, known as the Air Quality Program, and it is slowly but surely pushing Pittsburgh to much greener pastures.

However, amid claims that the Air Quality Program is keeping business out of the city with its restrictive pollution regulations, County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is thinking about scrapping the successful program for one that is state-run.

Not only would this slow Pittsburgh down in its pursuit to strengthen air quality, it would also be a drastic step backward.

According to the Post-Gazette, businesses, such as U.S. Steel, claim that they are being stifled under the program’s tight regulations. In a column in the Pittsburgh Business Times, Kathryn Klaber, executive vice president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, said that there is a “breakdown of the permitting process that is negatively and unnecessarily affecting our ability to compete for economic investment and job creation.”

But Sandra Etzel, head of the Allegheny County air permitting section, told the Post-Gazette that the county has not had problems issuing permits to businesses.

The truth is that the Air Quality Program’s restrictive regulations are necessary for Pittsburgh to continue moving forward. For years, the program has, with its advanced air monitory system, limited coke oven emissions and controlled airborne asbestos and lead, making Pittsburgh an altogether cleaner place to live.

The heart of the matter, however, may not be the strict regulations at all. Rather, this could be a red herring for the corporate tax structure.

Instead of addressing Pittsburgh’s corporate taxes – a major reason why businesses don’t flock here – Onorato is blaming an insignificant pollution regulation.

And rather than encouraging pollution limitation, Onorato is willing to relax Pittsburgh’s air quality standards in order to make things easier for businesses. Pittsburgh has become a model post-industrial city that has made great strides in pollution reduction, but Onorato is considering going back on all we’ve accomplished.

He is also going against the efforts of other city officials who hope to see Pittsburgh reach its full green potential.

City councilman Bill Peduto, for instance, is pushing legislation that would encourage green building construction. The Sustainable Development Bonus Initiative promotes construction that complies to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. If the Air Quality Program is scrapped, other efforts at making Pittsburgh more environmentally friendly would be undermined.

Instead of cutting back, there is so much more we could do to make Pittsburgh a healthier place to live. And we say, bring in the green.