Appeals court upholds most of EPA Clean Air Act.

A federal appeals court recently upheld the majority of a 2002 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule aimed at improving the implementation of the Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) program.

The NSR program requires all stationary sources, including metalcasting plants and other manufacturing facilities, to install modern pollution controls when they make plant changes that increase emissions. More specifically, the 2002 EPA rule implemented the following programs and provisions:

* pollution control and prevention projects--create a simplified process for companies that undertake environmentally beneficial projects;

* plantwide applicability limits (PALs)--institute site-wide emission caps to provide facilities with greater flexibility to modernize operations without triggering NSR;

* clean unit provision--give plants that install "clean units" operational flexibility if they continue to operate within permitted limits;

* calculating emissions increases and establishing actual emissions baseline--calculate how much facilities will actually emit after proposed changes versus estimating emissions based on 24-hr/day year-round operations.

In addition, the court found that EPA acted arbitrarily in deciding that sources do not need to keep records of emissions if a source determines there is no reasonable possibility that changes will constitute modifications triggering NSR requirements. EPA must adequately define "reasonable possibility" to comply with the act or devise an alternative provision.

Visit http://www.epa.gov/nsr/ for a complete list of the NSR program provisions and requirements.