November 26, 2002

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

On Friday, November 22, 2002, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced the finalization of a rule to improve the New Source Review (NSR) program. The USEPA also announced a proposed rule that would provide a regulatory definition of "routine maintenance, repair, and replacement." The draft and final rules offer facilities greater flexibility to improve and modernize their existing operations without surrendering permitted production capacity. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality supports these reforms and applauds the Bush Administration’s foresight and courage in fixing a program badly in need of repair. The NSR program has long drawn criticism from both industrial sources and regulatory agencies as being overly complicated and inflexible. The thousands of pages of federal guidance required to implement the program are viewed as an impediment to environmental improvement instead of a useful tool to benefit air quality.

In a June 2002 report to President Bush, the USEPA concluded that the NSR program, as currently administered, was an impediment to, or an outright death knoll to proposed maintenance and improvement projects designed to increase the reliability and efficiency of power plants and refineries. In short, sources were forced to surrender existing production capacity and operational flexibility to avoid re-permitting through NSR. This was not the original intent of the NSR program.

Under the improved NSR program, a company will be able to conduct maintenance and make improvements to its equipment that will ultimately reduce air pollution and increase efficiency without regulatory delays of up to two years. Contrary to the rhetoric espoused by many environmental groups, the revised program is not without internal checks and balances. One such safety valve incorporated into the process mandates that companies track changes to their operations for the first five years to ensure that actual emission increases, if any, are consistent with initial projections and do not trigger regulatory review. In the event that review is required, a facility would have to apply for and receive a new permit through the NSR program; hardly a license to pollute, as alleged by many environmental groups.

In the end, the NSR reform will not roll back federal environmental protection nor give companies a blank check to pollute. What the reform will do is provide facilities with the flexibility to: repair, maintain or replace aging equipment; improve reliability and efficiency; and yes, in many cases reduce emissions. This is a far cry from the environmental doom and gloom message being circulated by a select few in opposition to these much needed and welcomed reforms.

Sincerely,

Russell J. Harding
Director

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality