Legal

EPA Grants Request to Review Portions of New Source Review Program

EPA has granted a request to reconsider (60 days) certain aspects of the equipment replacement provision (ERP) adopted as part of the Agency’s New Source Review (NSR) permitting program. EPA is soliciting additional comments on three issues: the basis for determining that the ERP was allowable under the Clean Air Act; the basis for selecting the cost threshold; and a simplified procedure for incorporating a Federal Implementation Plan into state plans.”

NPRA Responds to Legal Challenge of the New Source Review Reform Rules

NPRA is a member of a NSR Manufacturers Roundtable that is responding to the legal challenge by the State of New York, et al. (No. 02-1387) to the December 31, 2002 final New Source Review final rule.

NPRA and the Coalition will submit a Petition for Review of Final Action of the Environmental Protection Agency only concerning EPA's action eliminating the statutorily-required first step of the modification analysis where there is a change to an existing emissions unit at a stationary source-i.e., the requirement that the change must increase the emitting capacity of the existing unit.

NPRA and the Coalition will also intervene in support EPA's final rule concerning whether the change will significantly increase annual emissions at the source which is defined as the second step in the NSR Review process. We will not challenge the rules governing the evaluation of emission increases associated with addition of a new "greenfield" emissions unit at an existing source. Nor will we challenge other aspects of EPA's 2002 rules, including the "actual-to-projected-actual" methodology for determining whether annual emissions have significantly increased.

The briefing schedule has been established by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit No. 02-1387 (Complex and consolidated cases) for the State of New York, et al, v. EPA on the final NSR reform rule December 31, 2002.

EPA NSR Website

State & Local Governments, Citizens, Industry	5/11/04
Amici	5/18/04
EPA	8/9/04
Interveners	8/30/04
Replies	9/20/04
Final Briefs	10/26/04

NPRA is a member of multi trade association coalition ERRC (Equipment Replacement Rule Coalition) which will intervene in support of the final rule published October, 2003.

Additional information on NSR

The Court has set a contingent schedule for the RMRR final rule depending on EPA's decision concerning several petitions for reconsideration. The first written briefs are due 90 days after final action on reconsideration or 30 days after the final briefs on the December 2002 rules whichever is later.

U.S Supreme Court Announces Decision in the South Coast Air Quality Management District Case

On April 28, 2004, the Supreme Court in an 8 to 1 vote reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Engine Manufacturers and Western States Petroleum Assocaition v. South Coast Air Quality Management District, et al. The decision strikes down the Ninth Circuit Court's decision that would have allowed virtually any local agency or regulatory entity to dictate exactly what type(s) of vehicles -- and therefore fuel -- can and can not be sold within their respective boundaries. The case stemmed from a SCAQMD ruling prohibiting the purchase of new diesel-fueled vehicles for fleet operators. The Clean Air Act prohibits any state or local standard relating to the control of emissions from new motor vehicles.

In August 2003, NPRA filed an amicus brief in support of the Engine Manufacturers Association and Western States Petroleum Association. NPRA filed the amicus brief with the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, the California Motor Dealers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Automobile Dealers Association, and the Truck Manufacturers Association.