Victoria Polinko is eager to see air pollution guidelines in place to protect the public's health, but said she can't help but feel skeptical.

“I’m tired of calling the health department and having nothing happen,” Polinko said.

Polinko, who taught English at Sewickley Academy for 33 years, is a member
of the Neville Island Good Neighbor Committee. She was one of more than 50 people who attended a public meeting Wednesday evening in Avalon to discuss air toxins.

The meeting, hosted by the Allegheny County Health Department, was part of an attempt to update the county's Air Toxins Guidelines. The county adopted the guidelines in 1988. A committee made up of representatives of community and environmental groups, industry representatives and experts is developing new guidelines.

At least a dozen people who spoke called for strict rules for industrial polluters in order to protect public health.

Residents of communities in the Ohio River Valley and the Neville Island area were especially concerned with industrial hot spots, where heavy industry is concentrated. Many residents cited high rates of cancer and asthma at those sites,  and they spoke of heavy amounts of soot covering their homes.

Matt Rind, of Ben Avon, said he supports the closing of the Shenango Inc. coke plant on Neville Island.

“You just don’t have a plant in a valley with [thousands] of people in it,” Rind said.

Other said they also were concerned with the effects of the Marcellus Shale boom and what they perceived to be failure at the state and federal level to protect public health.

A few residents warned of history repeating itself, with environmental health and quality of life sacrificed for profit. The committee is not clear as to whether its work will produce a set of guidelines or firm rules. Rules would be enforceable by law, whereas guidelines are not.

Dr. Donald Burke, chairman of the committee, said panel members are not at a point “where we’re ready yet to finalize anything.

“We are two-thirds of the way through the process and wanted to come to the community,” said Burke, who is dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

Emily Collins, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law   and chairwoman of a policy subcommittee, said committee members have been looking at developments in Louisville, KY, as a model for its guidelines.

In Louisville, new guidelines covered all existing polluters rather than just new permits, she said. As it stands now, Allegheny County's new air toxic guidelines would address only newly issued permits.

In 2009, the county Board of Health voted against updating its air toxins document and decided to table the guidelines indefinitely. The lone dissenting vote came from Burk.

Last year, after a public outcry and investigative reports, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato ordered the board to revisit the air toxic guidelines issue by creating the committee.

Burke said his group is nearly finished working through its process and hopes to finish the work within the next few months.

Polinko, who lives on the border of Kilbuck Township and Avalon, said she has been coming to public meetings on air pollution for more than 20 years. She said she was not confident in the ability of the county to enforce air toxics guidelines.

“I think the crucial thing here is every thing they’re talking about depends on the cooperation of the ones causing the most trouble,” Polinko said.

Allegheny County continues to release more toxic chemicals than Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties combined, according to the environmental organization Clean Water Action.

Existing industrial sources account for  21 percent of the toxic emissions in Allegheny County. Mobile sources, such as cars, trucks and buses, produce twice as much  toxic emissions -- 44 percent -- in the county, the organization said.