What Clean Air Act??

President Bush Undermines Clean Air Act with New Source Review Decision

President Bush's final New Source Review (NSR) rule will harm the
environment, despite what he claimed in his speech Monday at a Detroit
Edison Monroe Power Plant in Michigan. The site of the speech was chosen as
a model plant that would benefit from the new NSR rule; however, the
rule would enable the Monroe plant to dump at least 30,000 more tons of
sulfur dioxide emissions each year.

The Monroe plant is the eighth largest emitter of sulfur dioxide in the
country. President Bush talked at length about a 1999 request
Detroit Edison submitted to the EPA debating whether its planned upgrade
would constitute a major modification that would require it to improve
its pollution control devices.

The President tried to argue that the EPA's decision was too
"complicated" to implement quickly," but the EPA's response letter clearly
gave the company the go ahead and in fact encouraged it to begin its
upgrade project: "Detroit Edison has been free to proceed at any time with
the Dense Pack project without first obtaining a PSD permit as long as
it adheres to its stated intention to not increase emissions as a result
of the project. Indeed, EPA encourages the company to proceed with the
project on this basis, since it appears to both reduce emissions per
unit of output and not increase actual air pollution."

The outcome for the Monroe plant under Bush's new NSR rule means that
it can increase emissions by more than 30,000 tons a year, a 56 percent
increase over current levels. And in Michigan, where as many as 22
counties may have air too dirty to consistently meet new federal clean
air standards, state environmental officials are concerned about
overall air quality. "The challenge we are facing is new ozone (smog)
regulations, and counties that will be designated as being in nonattainment,"
said Patricia Spitzley, spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental
Quality. "That's a huge issue."