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Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Priority:
Clean Air Act: New Source Review/Prevention of Significant Deterioration
Planning Topics
Strategy Summary || Online Resources
The New Source Review/Prevention of Significant Deterioration (NSR/PSD) national priority strategy aims to achieve maximum compliance with environmental regulations in order to protect human health and the environment. Modifying an existing source of emissions to increase production or to extend the life of a facility has the potential to increase considerably the amount of pollution emitted from the source or facility. Despite the fact that trade association journals and economic indicators show that industrial facilities have substantially increased production across almost all sectors of the economy, a review of state permitting in recent years indicates that states are issuing very few PSD or NSR permits. The lack of NSR/PSD permitting likely indicates that many stationary sources are illegally emitting thousands of tons of pollution into the environment by avoiding these Clean Air Act requirements. Given the scope of the reductions to be obtained, addressing NSR/PSD non-compliance as an Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) national priority should result in substantial human health and environmental benefits.
Strategy Summary
EPA has selected four industrial sectors for investigation based on the probability of past modifications that would have required NSR/PSD permits and the sectors' overall emission profile. The four sectors are: coal-fired electric utilities, cement manufacturing facilities, sulfuric and nitric acid manufacturing facilities and glass manufacturing facilities.
For each of the national priority areas, EPA has developed a strategy designed to achieve specific goals. The New Source Review/ Prevention of Significant Deterioration (NSR/PSD) of 2008-2010 (PDF) (2pp, 19K,About PDF) contains a description of the environmental problem or noncompliance problem; why the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is addressing the problem; how the problem will be addressed; and, highlights the progress made by the New Source Review/ Prevention of Significant Deterioration (NSR/PSD) strategy summary of 2005-2007 (PDF) (4pp, 36K,About PDF).
Online Resources
EPA has identified over 400 links to online compliance and enforcement resources that may be helpful in implementing these performance-based strategies. These links can be accessed through the Compliance Assurance Resources Compendium for Fiscal Year 2008 - 2010 National Enforcement and Compliance Priorities (PDF) (60pp, 775K,About PDF), current as of February 2008, is also available.
EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) maintains a focused list of links to its policy, guidance and other relevant documents. Compliance and Enforcement Resources
The National Environmental Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse is an interactive Web site that links to thousands of compliance assistance resources on specific topics and by geographic locations. Users may add their own links, including links to contact Web pages for the Clearinghouse Expert Directory. The following EPA and non-EPA sources resources are on the Clearinghouse:
Compliance Assistance Resources provides links to information related to this priority on how to comply with environmental laws
Enforcement Resources provides links to information related to this priority on how EPA and the regulated community monitor compliance with environmental laws