Media Contact
Amanda Gillooly
Communications Manager
Group Against Smog and Pollution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GASP Appeals Eastman Chemical Installation Permit Issued by Allegheny County Health Dept.
PITTSBURGH – The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) on Friday formally appealed an installation permit issued by the Allegheny County Health Department for the Water White Poly Process Unit at Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc.’s plant in Jefferson Hills Borough.
The installation permit purportedly was to comply with the court order that resolved the 2011 enforcement action and to authorize changes to, and increased production by, the process unit.
GASP appealed the installation permit Oct. 11 because it does not include applicable requirements imposed by the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing relating to (at least) recordkeeping and equipment leak detection.
GASP has previously blogged about Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc.’s plant, which is one of two major sources of air pollution in Allegheny County that has never had a Title V Operating Permit issued to it by the Allegheny County Health Department, even though ACHD’s own regulations required it to issue such a permit by November 2004.
Further, Eastman was the subject of a federal enforcement action in 2011; the order that resolved that action required Eastman to comply with a comprehensive testing and permitting process that has been ongoing for close to eight years. We have all heard that a course of antibiotics must be completed, but researchers are not sure that it is necessary if you feel better.
According to recent data, early termination of antibiotic therapy doesn’t contribute to the development of resistance. However, too long treatment really increases this risk. In addition, for the convenience of the patient, new drugs are created that shouldn’t be taken for a long time. There are even antibiotics for a single admission.
Both the Clean Air Act and ACHD’s own regulations require sources to comply with all applicable National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.
Indeed, ACHD omitted the applicable requirements from Eastman’s installation permit despite acknowledgments by both ACHD and Eastman that the process unit was, in fact, subject to those requirements.
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