Allegheny County's historic Air Quality Program, targeted for possible elimination by county Chief Executive Dan Onorato because of alleged permit processing delays, has significantly improved its permitting performance this year.

The average time for processing and issuing a county installation permit has declined from 187 days in 2006 to 106 days this year, Rebecca Morris-Chatta, assistant solicitor for the county's air program, said at yesterday's county Board of Health meeting.

At the meeting, the board addressed claims by the Onorato administration and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development that tighter county air pollution regulations and permitting delays that they say sometimes stretched to two or three years are driving new business away.

Ms. Morris-Chatta said the permits that take longer to issue are so-called "Title V permits" that organize permits for existing businesses and don't prevent them from operating while they are reviewed and issued.

"We want to continue to streamline our process for the installation permits, and address important environmental issues without hindering business in the county," she said.

James Flynn Jr., the county manager and health board member, has been critical of the influence of environmental groups on the board's Air Pollution Advisory Committee.

"It's huge that they've been able to reduce the permitting time by 81 days, but that just proves our point," he said. "All options are still on the table."

Mr. Onorato and the Allegheny Conference have privately approached the state about taking control of the county air pollution program, which predates the state and federal air pollution control programs.

The county program contains some specifically targeted and tighter regulations necessitated by the large number of polluting industries operating near densely populated communities in river valleys that trap air pollutants. But those regulations aren't hurting business development, according to a 500-plus page report prepared for the health board.

"As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the county regulations that would inhibit industrial expansion," said Joe Pricener, an attorney who compiled the regulatory review delivered to the board yesterday.

Three environmental groups -- Clean Water Action, the Group Against Smog and Pollution and the Sierra Club -- spurred by reports the county might end the air program they have often criticized as too accommodating to industry, defended the program at the meeting.

Myron Arnowitt, state director for Clean Water Action, said the county regulations for lead, coke oven emissions, abrasive blasting, asbestos and school bus and diesel engine idling all target specific local air pollution problems not addressed by state regulations.

Ceding control of the program to the state would prevent adoption of such necessary regulations, he said, using the failure to enact a statewide smoking ban as an example of how locally favored regulations could be thwarted on the state level.

Marilyn Skolnick, co-conservation chair of the Sierra Club Allegheny Group, blistered industry for objecting to the local regulations and pushing to end the county program.

"Left to them," she said, "I still would not be able to open my window at night because of the pollution."

Ann Francis, a health board member and registered nurse, said she wouldn't support efforts to end the local air program.

"We need the specialized regulations and professional, knowledgeable regulators we have here," she said after the meeting. "It would be a real travesty to move the air program to the state."