PITTSBURGH – County Executive Rich Fitzgerald today announced that the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) has launched an Emission Inventory Dashboard, another tool for residents and interested parties to gauge air quality in our region. The dashboard includes emissions data collected by ACHD over the last 10 years. Its launch allows for a visualization and better understanding of the distribution of point source pollution across the county, and the impact of air quality regulation over time.

“Over the last 12 years, we have worked diligently with stakeholders under the leadership of the Health Department to improve our air quality. That work has resulted in an 80% decrease in the pollutants tracked by the department,” said Fitzgerald. “We have also focused heavily on increasing the breadth of information that is available to the public. The Emission Inventory Dashboard is the latest addition to the available resources, giving the public access to detailed information about what is in the air.”

The dashboard provides emission inventory data from 2010 to 2021 for 168 permitted facilities. The dashboard allows information to be viewed in a line graph, as a data table, or on a map. It can also be adjusted by pollutant or pollutant category, facility, and year(s).

There are 80 pollutants in the emission inventory divided into five categories. The Air Quality Program requires inventory reports form facilities with the potential to emit certain thresholds of pollutants.

This is the most recent effort to strengthen and improve public communication and education efforts. It builds upon ACHD work to advance the shared goal of cleaner air, particularly as it relates to the county’s most vulnerable residents. Residents, industry, and government alike, have undertaken a yearslong process of coming into attainment of the national standards.

In November 2022, the county submitted a requested revision to its portion of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In October of this year, it submitted the same for the SO2 NAAQS. Both submissions consisted of a redesignation request and maintenance plan for the Nonattainment Area. After review at the state level, the same were submitted to the EPA on behalf of the county for consideration.

While the review of the plans is ongoing, the EPA has stated that the data demonstrates that Allegheny County has achieved the 2010 and 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standards. ACHD continues to work with the EPA at regional and headquarter levels on the request and expect to have a decision later this month.

To learn more about air quality and the Air Quality Program, residents can sign up for Allegheny Alerts and attend Air Advisory Committee meetings. The department’s air quality dashboard is updated hourly. Every weekday, a daily dispersion report is released with a forecast for the day's atmospheric dispersion, meteorology, air quality index, and surface temperature inversion information.

The following links contain additional information the Air Quality Program and the way the program regulates and improves air quality: