Environmentalists Renew Legal Battle Over Texas' 'Flexible' Air Permits

摘要

Environmentalists are renewing their legal fight trying to block Texas' use of "flexible" Clean Air Act permits that allow industrial facilities to increase their emissions at specific units so long as total emissions do not exceed a plant-wide cap, arguing that the state's latest revised version of the permit program violates the air law. However, the advocates could face a struggle convincing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to grant their latest challenge to the flexible permit program because the court has already sided with Texas' program in a prior ruling. The court in a 2012 opinion rejected environmentalists' fears that the flexible permit program could let facilities avoid new source review (NSR) permitting requirements that can require imposition of strict pollution controls.