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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion September 17, 2003

     

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.1

The Monroe plant is the eighth largest emitter of sulfur dioxide in the country.2 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,"3 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."4

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.5 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."6

Sources:
1. Bush Defends New Environmental Rules, New York Times, 9/16/03, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/politics/16BUSH.html
2. Clean Air Markets, Data and Maps, Environmental Protection Agency, http://cfpub.epa.gov/gdm/.
3. President Visits Detroit Edison Monroe Power Plant in Monroe, Michigan, 9/15/03, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030915-6.html.
4. EPA Letter to Detroit Edison Counsel, 5/23/00, http://yosemite.epa.gov/r5/ardcorre.nsf/0/a9cee4cceeeb1a00862568ef0067a795?OpenDocument
5. Bush Defends New Environmental Rules, New York Times, 9/16/03, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/politics/16BUSH.html
6. Bush links clean air rules to jobs, Detroit News, 9/16/03, http://www.detnews.com/2003/politics/0309/16/a01-272845.htm

New Source Review Background: The Administration's final NSR rule changed the requirement that facilities upgrade pollution controls when they replace equipment if the upgrade increases pollution. The new rule exempts factories and power plants from upgrading their pollution controls if the cost of modification is less than 20 percent of the plant's total cost, regardless of its impact on emissions. ("States to Fight Easing of Rules on Pollution by Power Plants", New York Times, 8/29/03, p. B1; Natural Resources Defense Council, http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030822.asp)


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