States call for EPA to revise NSR records rule within 60 days

Washington (Platts)--16Aug2006

In an effort to end regulatory "confusion" that has allowed power plants
to emit more pollution, New York and 13 other states asked a federal court
Wednesday to mandate that the US Environmental Protection Agency revise its
reform of new-source review recordkeeping requirements within 60 days--a task
the agency has postponed for nearly a year.

"Each day that EPA fails to address this problem increases the risk that
sources are modifying their plants without keeping records that EPA has
acknowledged are 'very important' should the permitting agency need to inquire
about whether the project was a major modification," the states said in their
petition to the US Court of Appeals for the District of the Columbia Circuit.

The standard in question was part of a package of regulatory changes EPA
drafted in 2002 to provide coal-burning plants owned by utilities with more
flexibility to meet the Clean Air Act's NSR requirements that modified plants
with increased emissions install pollution control equipment.

The states sued EPA over the new NSR rule and the court in June 2005
remanded the rule's recordkeeping standard back to the agency.

The standard would allow sources of emissions to keep records "only if
there is a 'reasonable possibility' that their emissions may increase as a
result of a physical or operational change," the states said in their
petition.

In December 2005, the court mandated that EPA revise its "reasonable
possibility" standard or explain how it could be enforced. But, without EPA
fulfilling the court's mandate issued in December 2005, the "reasonable
possibility standard" remains part of the NSR rule, the petitioners said, and
it is "causing confusion in the regulated community regarding which records
must be maintained."

"Enforcement of NSR requirements will continue to be
undermined--hindering the ability of states to prevent pollution increases
from unlawful modifications--until EPA acts to change or clarify the
standard," the states said in their petition to the US Court of Appeals for
the District of the Columbia Circuit.

In addition to New York, the states petitioning the court are California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com

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