In Louisville, Ky., recently adopted air toxics regulations are being used to reduce unhealthy amounts of industrial emissions in "Rubbertown," where chemical, plastics and synthetic rubber factories along the Ohio River operate up against a residential neighborhood.

In Texas, which perennially gets bad air quality grades due to oil and chemical industry emissions, air toxics guidelines approved in 2006 set emissions limits low enough to prevent short- or long-term human health effects. Houston even has its own "Air Czar" who focuses on pollution hot spots.

But Allegheny County -- where the air quality has been disparaged in four reports this year --is in no hurry to update decades-old air toxics guidelines that do not reflect current science or protect human health. The guidelines would be used to assess emissions when considering permits for new, expanded or existing air pollution sources.

In July, the Allegheny County Board of Health voted 7-1 to table a regulation proposed by a county Health Department subcommittee that included representatives of local industries. The regulation was supported by environmental groups and the councils of Avalon and Ben Avon, municipalities downwind from the industries on Neville Island. It would have replaced an outdated and unwieldy county toxics regulation adopted in1988.

Last week, a meeting for health board members sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and the Allegheny County Health Department tried to revive that proposal by highlighting recent environmental health risk findings, guidelines adopted in other parts of the country, and local needs.

"The board tabled these guidelines but didn't go into particulars. I think we need to review the science and look at them in more detail before we decide what to do," said Dr. Donald Burke, dean of the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and the lone board member to vote against tabling the guidelines in July.

Several Allegheny County Health Board members cited the negative economic impacts on industry of new toxic-air guidelines when they voted to table the measure. But Lauren Anderson, director of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District, said they need to take a wider view.

"Louisville decided to regulate air toxics because they are not a priority for the state and because there was a headline in the paper that said the city had the worst air in the Southeast," Ms. Anderson said. "Our mayor is very pro-economic development but he realized that such a headline can be devastating to economic development.

"No one wants to move to a town if the air there will kill them," she said. "There was a lot of public discussion and agonizing over the regulations but the board really wanted to do the right thing."

Steve Hagle, director of the air permits division for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said guidelines there allow the state to use 64 air toxics monitors -- more than any other three states combined -- to identify pollution sources and create a "watch list area"

"We do special permit reviews and additional monitoring in those areas," Mr. Hagle said. "We try to get the companies to voluntarily reduce emissions but we have a big hammer in terms of the permitting and review process."

Allegheny County's 1988 guidelines list 800 chemicals that are considered to be hazardous air pollutants. But they lack specific risk studies, have never been updated and include no limits for exposure, according to Sandra Etzel, chief engineer in the Health Department's air quality program.

She said the air toxics guidelines proposed in July would cover 300 hazardous chemicals, including all 187 hazardous air pollutants listed in the Clean Air Act, and chemicals listed on local industries' federal Toxic Release Inventory lists. It would use health risk values based on the most recent human inhalation exposure and risk studies, and woud mandate annual updates.

Many of the chemicals on the list, including benzine, beryllium, and formaldehyde, are human carcinogens for which no safe exposure levels have been determined.

But County Manager James Flynn Jr., the board member who pushed other members to table those new guidelines, said during the meeting last week that he's comfortable with the county's 21-year-old guidelines and content to wait on the state to take action.

"We were told the state is working on an upgrade and I think it's better to join in that process than start one of our own," Mr. Flynn said, noting that counties surrounding Allegheny don't have any guidelines.

Mark Wayner, regional air quality division manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the state is re-evaluating and developing new air toxics guidelines, but admitted that hasn't been a high priority.

"It's slow going," he said. "It must go through channels and no time line has been established. It may take another year or longer."

Some observers at last week's meeting said it would likely take longer -- two or three years -- to pass toxics guidelines at the state level.

"People in Allegheny County can't hold their breath that long," said Joe Osborne, legal director for the Group Against Smog and Pollution. "The risks for a heavily industrialized and populated area are much different than the state or nation as a whole."

Mr. Osborne said a recent Carnegie Mellon University study found that Allegheny County ranked in the 75th percentile for 13 air toxics.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report in June found residents of Clairton and Glassport are exposed to toxic air pollutants that make their risk of getting cancer about 20 times higher than the national average.

In April, the American Lung Association ranked Pittsburgh first nationally among metropolitan areas for soot pollution, and a USA Today report found four of seven U.S. public schools most at risk from air pollutants are in Allegheny County.

"When you look at other states and places like Louisville that have successful toxics programs, it's encouraging but also a warning," said Myron Arnowitt, state director of Clean Water Action.

"Pittsburgh and the county are ranking high even though our air is getting better. Other areas are cleaning up more quickly, but the region has fallen behind in that race. We need to do more, and it's doable."

Some of the Health Board members at the meeting last week said they want to take another look at the guidelines.

"At the time we just weren't ready," said Dr. Lee Harrison, the board's vice chair, who noted that several industry representatives were invited but did not attend the meeting. "We need to keep gathering information, having discussions and then decide to move ahead."

"To representatives of industry, I recommend getting on board now," Ms. Anderson said, indicating that's what eventually happened in Louisville. "New rules are going to happen. If they get involved they will have some level of control through their participation. And the sooner they do it the better it is for everyone."

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.