Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

STATE

As Pa. air pollution declines, fees do, too Legionnaires may have killed 5

PITTSBURGH -- Air quality is getting better in Pennsylvania, and state officials say that's led to such a decline in pollution fees that they can't cover the cost of permitting programs.

Officials say that because power plants and factories are polluting less, they pay less in fees that are used to run a program that permits such industries.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Tuesday that the Department of Environmental Protection wants to increase the fees that big polluters pay, from $56 per ton of emissions to $85. DEP has scheduled a public hearing on the topic for March 5 in its Pittsburgh office. The program applies to 560 facilities statewide.

PITTSBURGH -- Federal health officials now say five people may have died from Legionnaires disease at Pittsburgh-area VA hospitals over the last two years, not the one death previously reported.

The VA says the hospital has had 29 Legionnaires' cases since January 2011, including the five announced last November. Eight more cases were traced to bacteria in the hospitals water.

From our wire services