New Source Review (NSR) Improvements: Supplemental Analysis of the Environmental Impact of the 2002 Final NSR Improvement Rules

摘要

For more than 10 years now, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been engaged in an effort to improve the New Source Review (NSR) program in response to widespread concerns from stakeholders who are concerned that it is too complex and burdensome, it introduces uncertainty in planning, it inhibits industrys ability to quickly make needed changes, and it is not working as effectively as it could be to protect air quality. In 1996, after an extensive stakeholder process, EPA proposed a series of reforms targeted at addressing stakeholder concerns and improving the program. As announced on June 13, 2002, the EPA now intends to finalize five key elements of the 1996 proposal: (1) Plantwide Applicability Limits (PALs), (2) the Clean Unit Test, (3) the Pollution Control Project Exclusion, (4) the revised baseline for determining pre-change emissions, and (5) the actual-to-projected-actual test. These reforms are aimed at providing much needed flexibility and regulatory certainty, and at removing barriers and creating incentives for sources to improve environmental performance through emissions reductions, pollution prevention, and improved energy efficiency. This document assumes that the reader already has some familiarity with the NSR program and with the terminology used in these five reforms, which are introduced in 1996 proposal and described fully in the final NSR Improvement rule.