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EPA rejects Texas’ flexible air permits
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The stable air permits of Texas refineries and industrial plants are about to face new, more stringent controls.
The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected the air-quality permits, declaring that the program does not meet Clean Air Act requirements such as protecting public health, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Currently, the EPA is conducting a review of the state’s flexible air permit regulations, which have drawn attention due to alleged program violations since the administration of George W. Bush, the Journal writes. The 16-year-old state program caps emissions of air pollutants from entire facilities and includes some of the nation’s largest oil refineries, such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Valero Energy.
The EPA hopes to restrict air emissions from every polluting unit in a factory. However, it has assured the companies that the plants will not be closed – rather, the agency will work with the corporations to modify the state’s flexible permits to make them more detailed. The plants have been asked to participate in a voluntary compliance-audit to speed up the process and establish operating and reporting requirements.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan W. Shaw claims that shutting down the flexible-permit program could actually cause air quality to suffer. Jen Powis, senior regional representative for the Sierra Club, disagrees. Calling the EPA’s decision "incredibly important," she told the paper that the reform would make it easier for Texas residents to determine if they were living near a high concentration of toxins.
The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970 and was last changed in 1990 with the Clean Air Act Amendments. Most recently, the EPA has introduced a series of rules to cut down emissions. The tailoring rule will require 550 large manufacturers, beginning in January 2011, to obtain permts for emissions, Solve Climate reports. That number is set to increase as each year 900 additional polluters will come under regulatory review.
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