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38 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10003 (2008)

handle is hein.journals/elrna38 and id is 1 raw text is: Copyright © 2008 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120. ELR 38 ELR 10003 NEWS&ANALYSIS ARTICLES Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: New Facility Permit Triggers by John-Mark Stensvaag Editors 'Summary: The CAA ' PSD program is extraordinarily complex. This Article is the third in a series on preventing significant deterioration under the CAA. The first two Articles, which appeared in the December 2005 and Janu- ary 2006 issues of News & Analysis, focused on baselines, increments, and ceilings. In this Article, Prof John-Mark Stensvaag turns his focus to the cir- cumstances under which a new stationary source must obtain a PSD permit. Af- ter explaining the benefits of avoiding a PSD permit requirement, he explores the statutory and regulatory language relevant to construction of a new major emitting facility. Table of Contents I. Introduction ......................... 10003 II. Why Seek to Avoid a PSD Permit? ....... 10004 A. The Consequences of Pulling the PSD Permit Trigger ........................... 10004 B. The Benefits of Avoiding the PSD Permit Requirement: A Story ................. 10005 III. The Statutory PSD Permit Trigger: Construction of a Major Emitting Facility. . 10005 IV. The Geographic Component ............ 10006 A. PSD Areas ........................ 10006 B. The Nonattaining Pollutant Exception ..... 10007 V. The Major Emitting Facility Component... 10007 A. The Statutory Major Emitting Facility Definition ......................... 10007 B. Major Emitting Facilities Distinguished From Major Stationary Sources .............. 10008 VI. Which Pollutants Count? .............. 10008 A. The Statute ' Breathtaking Pollutant Scope ............................ 10008 B. Which Pollutants Are Subject to BACT? ... 10009 C. EPA ' Dovetailing of the PSD Pollutant Trigger With BACT Coverage ........... 10010 D. Carbon Dioxide: The Quintessential Unregulated Pollutant ................ 10010 E. Hydrogen Sulfide: A First Look ......... 10011 F EPA ' Current Nomenclature: Regulated NSR Pollutants......................... 10011 G The Designated Pollutant Trap ........ 10011 H. Hydrogen Sulfide: A Second Look ....... 10012 John-Mark Stensvaag is Charlotte and Frederick Hubbell Professor of En- vironmental and Natural Resources Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. I Hazardous Air Pollutants: An Exception With a Tw ist ........................... 10012 J Section 112(r) Substances: A Third Look at Hydrogen Sulfide .................... 10013 VII. Which Emissions Count? ............. 10014 A. The Potential to Emit Riddle ......... 10014 B. EPA ' Initial Position: Worst Case, Uncontrolled Emissions ............... 10014 C. The Alabama Power Reversal: Only Controlled Emissions Count .......... 10015 D. Aftermath: EPA ' Insistence on Federal Enforceability ...................... 10016 E. EPA Reconsideration and Reaffirmation of the Federal Enforceability Requirement . . . 10017 F The Pragmatic Wisdom of the Federal Enforceability Requirement ............ 10017 G The D.C. Circuits Rejection of the Federal Enforceability Requirement ............ 10018 H. EPA ' Efforts to Salvage a Pragmatic Enforceability Condition .............. 10019 I The Interim Policy in the Courts ......... 10020 VIII. Conclusion ....................... 10020 I. Introduction The Clean Air Act's (CAA's) prevention of significant dete- rioration (PSD) program is now more than 30 years old.' Born of a simple notion that air quality in pristine areas of the nation should not be degraded to the levels other- wise permitted by national ambient air quality standards 1. For a description of the PSD program's origin and development, see John-Mark Stensvaag, Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: Baselines, Increments, and Ceilings Part I, 35 ELR 10807, 10808 & nn. 1-6 (Dec. 2005); Craig N. Oren, Prevention of Significant Deterioration: Control- Compelling Versus Site- Shifting, 74 IOWA L. REV. 1, 10 (1988). 1-2008

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