|
|
|
Email this citationCIAO DATE: 01/04
A Breath of Fresh Air: Reviving the New Source Review Program
Don Kettl, Peter Harkness, Lisa Heinzerling, DeWitt John, Howard M. Messner, Robert Terrell, Christophe Tulou, Alfred M. Zuck
April 2003
Introduction
The New Source Review program (NSR) is a critical tool enacted by Congress 25 years ago to protect public health and improve the nation’s air quality. But, as applied to existing facilities,NSR is not working as Congress intended. Thus NSR should be fundamentally reformed and strongly enforced against past violations by existing facilities.
The complicated NSR program has been effective in controlling air pollution from newly built industrial facilities and utilities, but it has performed poorly in reducing pollution from the nation’s oldest and dirtiest factories and power plants. The result is unfair to facilities that have invested in upgrading their equipment to reduce pollution, while others have avoided controlling their pollution. NSR’s unpredictable and lengthy permitting process is also detrimental to facilities that must change operations quickly to compete effectively. Finally, NSR is not having the positive effect on the health of individuals, or on the quality of the nation’s air, that Congress intended.
In this report commissioned by Congress, a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) recommends that the oldest and dirtiest facilities be given a firm deadline to install cleaner equipment or close down. The Panel further recommends that Congress continue requiring NSR permits for new plants, but also replace NSR as it applies to existing facilities with a simpler, more effective, performance-based program.
