Flexibility Proposed For Air Permits

Industrial facilities could increase or change the composition of their emissions to some extent without obtaining new air pollution permits, according to a regulation EPA proposed last week. The planned program, "flexible air permitting," would affect a broad array of facilities, from chemical manufacturing plants to power-generating stations. Under the proposal, a plant's flexible permit would lay out in advance the type of operational changes that the facility would be allowed to make without getting a new permit, along with an explanation of how the facility will stay in compliance with Clean Air Act regulations. Flexible permits, EPA says, would allow facilities to make rapid changes in response to market demands and ease the burden on regulators who issue permits.