Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato yesterday appointed a group of 15 people from the private sector, environmental circles, county and municipal officials to the county Environmental Air Quality Task Force.

The group is charged with reviewing the functions of Allegheny County's Air Quality Program with a stated goal of making recommendations to improve regional air quality, increase services and identify operating efficiencies.

"Air quality is an issue of great importance to Allegheny County residents," Mr. Onorato said in a news release.

The task force, which is expected to complete its review within six months, was announced in April.

Mr. Onorato's plan for an environmental task force to review county air quality regulations came about because the administration of the county's Air Quality Program had been criticized by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, U.S. Steel Corp. and others for failing to process air pollution permits quickly enough and for driving business away from the county.

That prompted Mr. Onorato to approach the state Department of Environmental Protection about taking over the program's planning, permitting, monitoring and enforcement duties.

As a result, Mr. Onorato faced a lot of criticism from environmental groups including Clean Water Action and the Group Against Smog and Pollution, which charged that he was trying to relax the county's air pollution enforcement by handing control of the program to the state.

And in what was seen as a compromise position between environmental groups and the business community, Mr. Onorato proposed keeping the county program with significant modifications.

And now with the appointment of an environmental task force, Mr. Onorato said "this was the last piece of overhauling the air quality program that had to be done."