EPA’s New Source Review Changes Would Help Manufacturers

The Environmental Protection Agency’s recently proposed rule revising a set of air-permitting regulations would help provide “manufacturers with workable permitting processes …  while still maintaining strong environmental protections,” the NAM told the agency this week.

What’s going on: In May, the administration released draft regulatory changes for the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review air-permitting program.

• Proposed revisions include updating the definition of “begin actual construction” and distinguishing “between construction of a stationary source and construction of non-emitting components or structures,” according to the summary in the Federal Register.
• Improving these definitions will “more clearly allow companies in the U.S. [to] move forward with the construction of non-emitting components and structures of their projects while a decision on required NSR permits is pending,” the NAM told the EPA today during an open public comment period on the proposal.

Why it’s needed: The current implementation of the NSR program unnecessarily hamstrings “non-controversial activities” such as the construction of structure foundations and concrete pads, the installation of piping and wiring and the building of walls and roofs for facilities that are not part of the “affected emissions units,” the NAM continued.

• These restrictions continue to result in needless delays and additional costs for manufacturers, the NAM said.
• Manufacturers have long advocated for NSR reforms to better align with the intent and language of the Clean Air Act and to speed up the construction of vital infrastructure and provide well-paying jobs.
• In September, when the EPA released the new guidance on NSR preconstruction permitting requirements, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said, “The EPA is delivering by making the permitting process more prompt, clear and responsible—keeping air quality safe while cutting excessive red tape” and that “the EPA’s new guidance on New Source Review brings speed and certainty to a vital preconstruction permitting process.”
• Last year, manufacturers reiterated the need to abandon the previous administration’s NSR proposal and to take a commonsense approach to the NSR preconstruction permitting process.

What else should be done: The EPA should consider modifying the NSR pollutant-emitting activities exclusion list “to allow for the consideration of additional types of activities and components,” the NAM said.

• The agency should also make clear that pre-permit construction documentation “will be considered by permitting authorities only for factual context.”
• Finally, it should encourage states to use consistent rules “to reduce inconsistent interpretations across jurisdictions that could otherwise create project risk.”

The last word: The EPA’s proposed rule constitutes “timely efforts to streamline permitting across the federal government to make it easier for manufacturers in the United States to grow and compete,” NAM Senior Director of Energy and Resources Policy Mike Davin said.