Letter to the editor: Allow ACHD to protect us
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As Allegheny County Council votes this month on a fee increase for Title V operating permits, some are arguing that this will place an unfair burden on U.S. Steel, a company that earned $2.14 billion in 2023. Nonsense!
The Allegheny County Health Department has been admonished by the Environmental Protection Agency for its backlog of major operating permits. Charging the fair cost for the staff work required to resolve this problem is long overdue.
Our once largest employer, U.S. Steel, is today a mere shell of itself. Failing to maintain its ancient Mon Valley Works while investing $6 billion in more modern facilities in Arkansas leaves our region with a vestige of their worst operations that emit toxins into the air that we breathe.
Today, health care systems and universities are our largest employers. We also boast a major concentration of other nonprofits. None of them pay, taxes.
The future of our region lies in promoting economic growth through the tax-paying tech businesses that are here. But we cannot grow that sector when their lifestyle-conscious workforce refuses to live in Allegheny County, one of the top 1% worst places in the country for cancer and lung and heart diseases related to air pollution.
We must promote changes that can free our region to grow. A first step should be Allegheny County Council approval of fee increases that will allow ACHD to expand its ability to protect the health of all our residents.
Howard M. Rieger
Squirrel Hill