Issue 1
One of the prime responsibilities of the ACE is oversight and key decision-making related to the functioning of the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), the selection of its Director, and the members of its Board of Health and committees.
ACHD is being led by an Interim-Director without any public health or medical credentials. Hopefully no decision will be made regarding the hiring of a new Director until the new ACE has had a chance to weigh in on this crucial step.
Q 1: Will you assure that the new ACHD Director has public health credentials?
A: Absolutely. As County Executive, I will utilize a community-facing process to get nominations and recommendations from everyday people across Allegheny County for key administration positions. I will work with the Board of Health to find and hire someone who is clearly qualified for this job and has recognized environmental and public health credentials commensurate with the incredible, unique power of ACHD. It is a disservice to Allegheny County residents to require anything less. Further, I will ensure that the Board of Health has representatives from Allegheny County Environmental Justice communities and includes members with public health, climate science, and epidemiological experience.
Issue 2
The Board of Health and its committees currently have members who have conflicts of interest that make it difficult for them to hold polluters responsible.
Q 2: Will you assure that new appointees to the Board of Health and committees do not represent our region’s worst polluters, are independent and committed to addressing the health crisis that air pollution represents, the consequence of which is death or disability for far too many of us?
A: Without question, our communities deserve leadership on the Board of Health that operates using the most up-to-date research, is transparent with the community, and is committed to protecting the public health of Allegheny County residents. As County Executive, I would institute reforms to ensure a more honest, transparent, and responsive government that works for all of us. I will require all board and commission appointees to sign an ethics agreement, adopt the gift ban that will be instituted for County employees, and require disclosure of any and all conflicts including a complete statement of financial interest before appointments are finalized. Further, I will commit to ensuring that no new appointees to the Board of Health or its various committees have conflicts of interest with the polluting industry. Instead, I will appoint a Board of Health composed of members with strong public and environmental health credentials — including epidemiologists, climate scientists, and those residing in designated environmental justice communities— who will put our health and safety first and create regulations that are based on science.
Issue 3
We have begged ACHD for years to meet with residents in environmental justice communities. Three years ago, we communicated with the new Health Director in the hope that she would do so, but it did not happen.
Q 3. Will you insist that ACHD be responsive to community and grassroots organizations and meet directly with residents?
A:. Yes. Government must be accessible, transparent, and responsive in order to build a region where we all can thrive. As a State Representative, I have embraced a model for elected officials called “co-governance.” I listen to my communities, what their concerns are, and what opportunities and tools they need to succeed. I can only be successful in my job if I have strong community voices working with and alongside me. I get together with the real experts in my district – the people with the lived experience of problems facing their communities – and we work out the tough issues together. That way, when I vote on a piece of legislation, it’s not just me voting, it’s the thousands of people in my district voting through me. I plan to use the same co-governance model I have used in my State Representative office to create a culture of access and inclusion in the County Executive’s Office and across County Departments.
Issue 4
The ACHD is significantly underfunded, a fact revealed by its action on January 23, 2023, to override the unanimous recommendation of its Regulations Subcommittee opposing the diversion of 25% of the Clean Air Fund to fund its operations. The Clean Air Fund is the repository of fines paid by polluters.
Q 4: Will you support using the Clean Air Fund to help those in environmental justice communities who live closest to major sources of toxic emissions from the worst polluters, rather than to reduce the County’s obligation to fund its own operations?
A: Yes. I am strongly opposed to the diversion of Clean Air Fund money to cover more of the costs of ACHD operations. That money is to remediate harm caused by polluters — not to renovate buildings or to pay staff but to repair harm in communities that need it most. I will also work with our team at the health department and community leaders to design a process that creates a clear and equitable way for community-based organizations and public health nonprofits to apply directly to the fund in a public process. I will not allow closed-door decision-making about how the fund is allocated. I will aim to get this money back out into the community as quickly as possible.
Issue 5
In a County with a budget of several billion dollars, having an underfunded Health Department is a clear message that these needs have been assigned the very lowest priority.
Q 5: What is your plan for adequately funding the ACHD, and assuring that it carries out its environmental protection mandate aggressively?
A: Allegheny County is consistently ranked as one of the worst places in our nation for air quality resulting in detrimental effects on our children, seniors, and communities. Our County government has a responsibility to act quickly and decisively to fund the ACHD because it is the only department with the explicit responsibility to protect our public health. We need to implement a participatory, priority-based budgeting process that centers the opinions and needs of everyday people across Allegheny County. When we ask the question, “What should we be prioritizing in our budget?” rather than blindly increasing line items from previous years’ budgets we can co-create a County budget that addresses the needs of our communities. Currently, the Health Department receives 5% of the Clean Air Fund’s revenue for its operations, but this is a perverse incentive for the “pay to pollute” model. We cannot continue to allow the Health Department to be funded via fines as it starts a cycle allowing more pollution and therefore more fines to ensure ACHD could receive more funding. I will also use my connections at the state to lobby for increases in state appropriations to ensure that Allegheny County receives its fair share. Finally, we need to work with our large nonprofits to ensure that everyone is contributing their fair share to the County government so that we can effectively administer all of the services our county is responsible for.
Issue 6
ACHD’s online county air pollution complaint system, which is the only way to report an air pollution problem, is far too complicated to navigate for the ordinary resident, and impossible for those with disabilities or without internet access. Even when a complaint is successfully lodged, there is usually no response with information about action taken, a deficiency that is impossible to justify.
Q 6: Will you support the creation of a user-friendly complaint system that provides follow-up information?
A: We have incredible resources developed by our universities and funded by our philanthropic community that ACHD should be using and should be working in partnership with these organizations to further develop, fully deploy, and make actionable. I will provide the funding to ACHD necessary to do this, will work with ACDHS to help get ACHD onto their award-winning technology platforms, and will leverage every available bit of funding and knowledge from our university, nonprofit, and philanthropic communities to make it happen quickly. For example, ACHD failed to communicate risks to the public for two weeks during the Clairton Works fire in 2018. That will never happen under my watch. The public has a right to know what is happening around them and I will work tirelessly to put in place systems to provide rapid information across multiple modes.
Issue 7
ACHD board response to comments made by residents during public hearings is NO RESPONSE! Taking time away from jobs and family to travel to these sessions is a sacrifice. In an era of open communication, ACHD has intentionally walled itself off from interaction and follow-up with members of the public who they serve.
Q 7: Will you assure that ACHD responds after meetings to public comments made during designated public comment sessions?
A: Yes. I will work with the Director of the Health Department, the Board of Health, our advocates, and community members to co-create a standard way for ACHD to respond to public comments made during public comment sessions. As stated previously, I want to bring the model of “co-governance” to County Government which will ensure our departments are responsive and transparent in all of their actions.
Issue 8
Since 2016, ACHD has received over 78,000 odor complaints from Allegheny County residents through SmellPGH, an app developed by CREATE Lab at CMU in cooperation with ACHD, yet ACHD has not used these reports to take actions to stop the stench, and the headaches, asthma, eye irritation and other symptoms that accompany those toxic odors. ACHD has resisted integrating technological assets that could improve its operations.
Q 8: Will you assure that ACHD finds a more acceptable way to respond to SmellPGH complaints, and embrace technology as a data-driven crucial step toward modernizing its operations?
A: Absolutely. As stated above I will partner directly with the CREATELab, the Breathe Project, FracTracker Alliance, our universities, and our philanthropic community to make this happen.
Issue 9
The fire and explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works on Christmas Eve 2018, when ACHD took 16 days to issue a warning, and after which ACHD allowed the plant to operate without air pollution abatement equipment for over three months, underscored the absence of an ACHD crisis warning system.
ACHD’s response to the fire at the Metalico metal recycling plant on Neville Island three years later, when local residents were forced to evacuate and during which time ACHD told victims that it was the responsibility of the local fire department to provide information, demonstrates that ACHD has been incapable of learning from experience.
In the wake of the rail disaster at E. Palestine, Ohio, it is no longer possible to allow these glaring deficiencies to continue.
Q 9: Will you support the creation of an effective emergency warning system for the residents of our region?
A: Yes, I will support the creation of an effective emergency warning system regarding environmental events for the residents of our region in collaboration with the ACHD, the Director of the Health Department, the Board of Health, our advocates, nonprofits, and universities working every day to highlight and address the air quality issues here.
Issue 10
The EPA sanctioned ACHD in 2018 for its multi-year backlog in issuing or renewing Title V operating permits and mandated that ACHD develop a performance improvement plan and assure that backlogs will be addressed.
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works operated under an expired Title V permit for at least 5 years. Another major metals company, ATI has operated and continues to operate without a permit ever having been issued.
Q 10: What steps will you take to assure compliance with EPA requirements to secure funding, hire staff to address the backlog and install a permit tracking system which can prevent future non-compliance?
A: We need a health department whose mission and budget are focused on protecting public health, not pursuing economic development. I will fully fund and staff the health department to ensure it meets those goals and values including coming into compliance with the EPA requirements to address the permit backlog and install a permit tracking system to prevent future non-compliance.
Howard M. Rieger, PhD, Founder & Convener, SWPATHS
hmrieger@gmail.com www.swpaths.org 412-303-4942