Prevention of Significant Deterioration

By Andrew H. Perellis, Jeryl L. Olson, and Craig B. Simonsen

The Third Circuit concludes that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency may not force former facility owners to obtain missing preconstruction permits or to install missing pollution controls on a plant that they no longer own or operate — as it did not cry foul until more
Continue Reading Third Circuit Finds Enforcement Action Time-Barred Because the Failure to Obtain a Preconstruction Permit is Not a Continuing Violation of the Clean Air Act

By Andrew H. Perellis and Jeryl L. Olson

How much change can occur without a permit is a contentious and difficult question.

A Clean Air Act major source undergoing construction or modification needs to obtain a construction permit under 42 U.S.C. §7475(a) that would then obligate it to install best available control technology (BACT). However, mere repairs to an existing
Continue Reading USA v. Midwest Generation — Seventh Circuit Finds Enforcement Action Time-Barred Because the Failure to Obtain a PSD Construction Permit is Not a Continuing Violation of the Clean Air Act

By Jeryl L. Olson and Eric E. Boyd

On August 7th, in Summit Petroleum Corp. v. EPA, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that Summit Petroleum’s natural gas operations plant and wells located in a 43-square mile area near the plant were

Continue Reading Plants Must Actually be “Adjacent” to Constitute a Single Source for Air Permitting Purposes

By Craig B. Simonsen

We had previously blogged about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s  (EPA’s) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) “tailoring rules” for Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting, and about its GHG “Endangerment Finding“. Yesterday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled concerning both of these rulemakings. Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Et al.

Continue Reading DC Circuit Rules on EPA Tailoring Rules and “Endangerment Finding”