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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suellen Keiner
April 21, 2003
Washington, DC - April 21, 2003 -
The New Source Review (NSR) program under the Clean Air Act
is not working as Congress intended, and as a result, the
health of the American public is being adversely affected,
according to a report released today by the National Academy
of Public Administration. The two-year, independent study
was commissioned by Congress.
Titled "A Breath of Fresh Air: Reviving
the New Source Review Program," the report concludes
that the NSR program is effective in controlling air pollution
from newly built industrial facilities, but performs poorly
in reducing pollution from the nation's oldest and dirtiest
factories and power plants. The report also finds that NSR's
unpredictable and lengthy permitting process is detrimental
to facilities that want to change operations quickly and compete
effectively.
The study urges Congress to retain NSR,
but to strengthen its impact by ending grandfathering, vigorously
enforcing NSR's permitting requirements for existing facilities,
and improving EPA and state information systems and public
accountability.
The Academy's most innovative recommendation
urges Congress to amend the Clean Air Act to adopt a compulsory,
three-tiered, performance-based system that will require facilities
to reduce air pollution. The three trading tiers will include
cap-and-trade, cap-and-net, and unit-cap approaches to emissions
reduction.
The report's most controversial suggestion
may be that emission limits for each tier should be based
on the performance level of the cleanest technology available.
Finally, the report suggests that the NSR
program anticipate future environmental challenges and adopt
reforms that provide regulatory certainty while ensuring that
the public health and the environment will be protected.
The Academy panel responsible for the study
was chaired by Don Kettl, professor of public affairs and
political science, and former director of the Robert M. LaFollette
School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin in
Madison.
The National Academy of Public Administration
is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan corporation chartered
by Congress to provide "trusted advice" on issues
of governance and public management.
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