Neville Chemical fined, blamed for chemical smell that wafted through McKees Rocks area last month

The Allegheny County Health Department has fined Neville Chemical, alleging a leaky valve caused the strong chemical odor reported in and around McKees Rocks last month.

In the hours after residents from McKees Rocks, Pittsburgh and other nearby areas began reporting the strong smell, the health department blamed a weather inversion for causing the smell to permeate the area around Neville Island.

A meteorologist said a weather inversion, also called a temperature inversion, happens when the surface level of the atmosphere cools to a temperature lower than the area above. The result is that any pollutants in the air close to the surface can’t rise above the inversion.

In reality, health officials said, a valve leak on a heat polymerization still resulted in a hydrocarbon mixture being released into the air. In a statement, health department spokesman Chris Togneri said the department didn’t receive word of the breakdown until 33 hours after it happened.

Togneri noted that breakdowns at permitted facilities must be reported within one hour.

“When breakdowns occur, it is our job to hold the source of the breakdown responsible, and we take that responsibility seriously,” said Patrick Dowd, the health department’s chief operating officer.

A representative for Neville Chemical could not immediately be reached.

The company will have to submit a corrective action plan to the health department, something it has 60 days to do. The company also was fined $62,075. The money will go to the Allegheny County Clean Air Fund.

Violations include exceeding allowed emissions, failure to submit a breakdown report on time, failure to identify the valve failure in a timely manner and work-practices violations.