Prevention of significant deterioration (PSD)
Prevention of Significant Deterioration: A Scalpel, Not an Axe
Does the United States need the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program to guard against degradation of air quality? In their recent Comment in these pages, John C. Evans and Donald van der Vaart say no,...
Effective Clean Air Act Enforcement in the Face of Statute-of- Limitations and Successor Liability Barriers
The volume of NOx and SO2 emissions each year from unregulated, grandfathered power plants demonstrates that the goal of the CAA’s PSD program, to ensure that air quality standards under NAAQS do not in effect become a ceiling, has...
EPA’s Missed Opportunity to Ground Its GHG Tailoring Rule in the Statute: What the Situs Argument Would Mean for the Future of the PSD Program
On February 28 and 29, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C.) Circuit heard oral argument in a series of closely watched lawsuits challenging regulations issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: The BACT Determination—Part II
PSD permits issued to major emitting facilities must include BACT standards for each pollutant subject to regulation under the CAA. These standards must be determined by permitting authorities on a case-by-case basis, subject to EPA...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: The BACT Determination— Part I
PSD permits issued to major emitting facilities must include BACT standards for each pollutant subject to regulation under the CAA. These standards must be determined by permitting authorities on a case-bycase basis, subject to EPA...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: The BACT Requirement and BACT Definition
Major emitting facilities are required to comply with BACT standards for each pollutant subject to regulation under the CAA. This requirement—initially thought to be inconsequential—has now become a dominant feature of the PSD...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: Area Classification, Initial Allocation, and Redesignation
The CAA's PSD program is extraordinarily complex. This Article is the fourth in a series on PSD under the CAA. The first three Articles, which appeared in the December 2005, January 2006, and January 2008 issues of News &...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: New Facility Permit Triggers
Editors' Summary: The CAA's PSD program is extraordinarily complex. This Article is the third in a series on preventing significant deterioration under the CAA. The first two Articles, which appeared in the December 2005 and January...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: Baselines, Increments, and Ceilings--Part II
Editors' Summary: The CAA's PSD program is extraordinarily complex. This Article, written in two parts, focuses on the root of the PSD implementation process--baselines, increments, and ceilings. After exploring the essential features...
Preventing Significant Deterioration Under the Clean Air Act: Baselines, Increments, and Ceilings--Part I
Editors' Summary: The CAA's PSD program is extraordinarily complex. This Article, written in two parts, focuses on the root of the PSD implementation process--baselines, increments, and ceilings. After exploring the essential features...