EPA Eyes Criteria To Prioritize, Avoid Air Performance Standard Reviews

摘要

EPA has sent for White House review the first step in its plan to set criteria for when it must meet a Clean Air Act mandate to review and revise sector-specific new source performance standard (NSPS) air rules, a move sources say could overhaul the process by helping EPA focus limited resources on those standards in greatest need of revision. Little else is known about the effort, including how - if at all - it will address the issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) limits in NSPS. EPA is taking steps to develop first-time GHG limits in NSPS for the power plant and refinery industries, but is fighting environmentalists' lawsuit seeking to force GHG limits in a cement sector NSPS. Activists would likely argue that any revised NSPS should warrant consideration of including GHG controls. EPA sent a "pre-rule" for the NSPS review criteria for White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) review Aug. 15, the last major step before its release and publication in the Federal Register.