Northeast states, gas producers unhappy with expected revisit of NSR

Nine Northeast states Tuesday warned the White House they will sue if the Environmental Protection Agency revises air pollution standards for power plants and refiners. Some gas producers also are unhappy with the proposal because it could encourage utilities to add capacity to less efficient coal-fired plants.

Jan. 9, 2002

3 min read

By the OGJ Online Staff

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 8 -- Nine Northeast states Tuesday warned the White House they will sue if the Environmental Protection Agency revises air pollution standards for power plants and refiners.

Some gas producers also are unhappy with the proposal because it could encourage utilities to add capacity to less efficient coal-fired plants.

The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont said efforts by President George W. Bush to retool the New Source Review program would increase airborne lung diseases in their states.

Environmental groups and some scientists blame much of the region's elevated smog levels on older coal-fired generating plants. Winds carry smokestack pollution from those generators in the Midwest to the Northeast.

Some domestic gas producers are uncomfortable with the Bush administration's position. One industry lobbyist said, "If EPA opts to relax rules on coal-fired generation, there will be less demand for gas-powered generation, and that's an important growth market."

Refiners disagree. They say the Clinton administration enforced NSR rules too aggressively. Refiners allege EPA's interpretation of the rule discouraged even routine maintenance.

Environmental groups and top administration officials, former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, and Assistant Atty. Gen. General Lois Schiffer claim that industry often expanded capacity or made dramatic changes to plants without going through the necessary review process. That often meant that regulators could not ensure air pollution guidelines were still being met. EPA and the Justice Department filed numerous lawsuits on the issue.

A few months after President George W. Bush took office in 2001, it was clear NSR would be revisited. A subsequent White House energy blueprint overseen by Vice-Pres. Dick Cheney offered the first clues. It suggested NSR may need to be retooled to avoid production constraints in the electric power and oil sectors. And later in the year, the White House Office of Management and Budget said it wanted to review and possibly rescind NSR (OGJ Online, Jan. 4, 2001).

EPA is expected to address both the energy production question mentioned in the blueprint and offer suggestions on how NSR can be made more efficient, government sources said.

But that's still not good enough for environmental groups and Northeast officials.

"We are asking the federal government to be fair to New England, to do the right thing by the environment, and to enforce its own laws even against big business interests," said Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

Congress is also expected to consider the issue after it returns Jan. 24 from a holiday recess.