Clean Construction Legislation Advances to Allegheny Co. Council

Allegheny County Council's Public Works committee last week advanced long-sought "Clean Construction" legislation to the full council for consideration, recommending that it be approved.

The ordinance, introduced last month by Councilwoman Anita Prizio, mirrors guidelines passed by the City of Pittsburgh in 2016. It requires all county government construction projects that cost $2.5 million or more to use diesel emission control strategies on construction vehicles, including the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.

These clean construction guidelines require the use of the best available control technology, such as a diesel particulate filter, on all on-road vehicles (think dump trucks), as well as off-road equipment (like backhoes and bulldozers) involved in the projects.

GASP, which has long advocated for the expansion of clean construction policies and was instrumental in getting the similar ordinances passed, thanked the Public Works committee for advancing the legislation.

"The National Emissions Inventory estimated that diesel-powered construction and mining equipment emitted more than 130 tons of fine particulate matter in 2014 in Allegheny County. To put that in perspective, it's more than a quarter of all fine particulate matter produced by mobile diesel-powered sources and about two-thirds of fine particulate matter produced by all mobile non-road diesel equipment in the county," GASP Executive Director Rachel Filippini said. "If approved, this policy could have a huge positive impact on our local air quality."