| TRENTON
– A federal court today granted New
Jersey a total victory in a case against
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
vacating a rule adopted by the EPA that
had threatened to drastically undermine
the New Source Review program under the
Clean Air Act, Attorney General Zulima V.
Farber announced.
New
Source Review is a vital protection for
New Jersey residents against harmful pollution
from upwind power plants.
New Jersey filed suit against the EPA in
October 2003, along with a coalition of
states and the District of Columbia, to
challenge the rule, which would have allowed
most major pollution sources – including
power plants, utilities and refineries –
to avoid long-standing requirements to install
new pollution controls when making any physical
or operational changes that increase emissions
significantly. The court stayed implementation
of the rule at New Jersey’s request
in December 2003.
In
unanimously rejecting the rule today, a
three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit said
the rule is “contrary to the plain
language” of the Clean Air Act. The
court declared that “only in a Humpty
Dumpty world” would EPA’s approach
to interpreting the Clean Air Act make sense.
“New
Source Review should provide vital protection
for New Jersey residents against harmful
pollution,” Governor Jon S. Corzine
said. “The EPA’s interpretation
of the rule would have allowed aging coal-fired
power plants, many located in the Midwest,
to continue to emit millions of tons of
hazardous emissions that wind up in New
Jersey.”
“This
is a tremendous victory for New Jersey residents,
who are subjected to smog and toxic emissions
from upwind power plants,” said Attorney
General Farber. “EPA attempted to
create a huge loophole for industry that
would have allowed companies to rebuild
old, dirty power plants and increase dangerous
emissions without installing modern pollution
controls. The court agreed with our legal
arguments and closed that loophole, protecting
the health of our citizens.”
“Today's
ruling is a major victory for the Clean
Air Act and for New Jersey in our effort
to reduce air pollution and stop the ill-conceived
Bush Administration’s regulatory rollbacks,”
said Department of Environmental Protection
Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson. “We
will continue to fight for every New Jerseyan’s
right to breathe clean air and require companies
to install new air pollution control technologies
during plant upgrades.”
EPA’s
rule created a broad exemption for companies
upgrading their plants. It provided that
where equipment was replaced with equipment
that performed the same basic function and
did not exceed 20 percent of the cost of
replacement of the “process unit”
of which it was a part, it would be considered
“routine maintenance, repair or replacement”
exempt from New Source Review.
The
definition of “process unit”
was so broad as to encompass an entire production
facility. A power company would have been
able under the rule to rebuild an entire
generating unit over time in 20-percent
increments without installing the modern
pollution controls mandated under the Clean
Air Act.
#
# #
|
