This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Turn to the nation's most objective and informative daily environmental news resource to learn how the United States and key players around the world are responding to the environmental...
The EPA is looking at how to shorten the time it takes to get an air pollution permit for power plant and factory construction or expansion, the operations adviser to Administrator Scott Pruitt told Bloomberg Environment.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to identify what is holding up permits under the New Source Review program, EPA Chief Operating Officer Henry Darwin told Bloomberg Environment on the sidelines of last week’s Environmental Council of the States conference in St. Paul, Minn.
“I want to get an idea of how many permits are out there that are sitting for longer than six months. That will help us prioritize our lean process,” Darwin said, referring to the lean management system approach that he is helping to deploy.
Delays in the the process, for example, caused a proposed Sithe Global Inc. plant to be abandoned and built in Indonesia instead.
The EPA has held week-long sessions with state and regional agency officials to review new water pollution permits it issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, new drinking water permits for underground injection wells used for oil and gas extraction, and new chemicals selected for regulation under the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Now it is turning attention to the New Source Review program, Darwin said.
The goal of the meeting is to identify the reasons for the delays and look for ways to improve, he said.
Pruitt’s goal, which is folded into the agency’s five-year strategic plan, is to cut in half the number of permitting decisions that take longer than six months by September 2019.
“EPA doesn’t track how long it takes to issue permits,” Darwin said.
An applicant can expect to wait anywhere between two and three years to get a final New Source Review permit from the EPA, including appeals, Rich Alonso, an attorney with the Washington office of Sidley Austin LLP told Bloomberg Environment. Alonso served as the second-ranking Clean Air Act enforcement official at EPA between 2001 and 2007.
The costs of the delays for these permits affect the electric power and petroleum industries, Alonso said. Those industries would welcome any agency effort to expedite the process, which should ordinarily take no longer than a year, Alonso said.
A proposed 1,500-megawatt Desert Rock Energy Co. facility, to be located on Navajo reservation land in northwest New Mexico, was a casualty of the prolonged new source review permitting and appeals process, according to Alonso.
The project’s backers—a joint venture between Sithe Global Inc., a merchant developer, and Dine Power Authority (DPA), an enterprise of the Navajo Nation Council—gave up on building the power plant and built in Indonesia instead.
The EPA issues the permits in Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Indian country.
Seven states are delegated the authority to issue permits on behalf of the EPA using federal rules, while 43 states issue permits directly through EPA-approved state implementation plans.
Federal air regulations require the EPA to take one year to submit a new source review permit, but in practice it takes longer, according to attorneys.
That is because the EPA only starts the clock once it has deemed the application complete in a written notice, which the agency can take its time to issue, Alonso said.
When the agency begins processing the application, the EPA review of air emissions modeling submitted in support of the project can be time intensive and complex, Megan Berge, an attorney with Baker Botts LLP, told Bloomberg Environment in an email.
In addition, an applicant cannot begin construction on a project until any appeals process is completed in its favor, Berge and Alonso said.
As Darwin goes through the process of reviewing EPA operations, he said he’s learned that the EPA doesn’t know a great deal about the time it takes to approve drafts of state-issued permits, measure compliance, and respond to states’ requests.
For instance, the EPA doesn’t track the time between when a violation notice is issued and corrective action is taken, he said.
Darwin previously served as Arizona’s chief operating officer, where he implemented the type of lean management system that Pruitt now wants to adopt. Darwin adopted this from Toyota, which applied the approach to its manufacturing.
The overarching task is to identify the small problems before they become larger. Some larger problems at the EPA, for instance, began as smaller ones, Darwin said.
Becky Keogh, ECOS vice president and director of Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said she sees no reason why the reforms EPA is bringing to its permitting operations can’t be adopted as best practices by states.
Bloomberg Environment was a sponsor of the Environmental Council of the States meeting.
All Bloomberg BNA treatises are available on standing order, which ensures you will always receive the most current edition of the book or supplement of the title you have ordered from Bloomberg BNA’s book division. As soon as a new supplement or edition is published (usually annually) for a title you’ve previously purchased and requested to be placed on standing order, we’ll ship it to you to review for 30 days without any obligation. During this period, you can either (a) honor the invoice and receive a 5% discount (in addition to any other discounts you may qualify for) off the then-current price of the update, plus shipping and handling or (b) return the book(s), in which case, your invoice will be cancelled upon receipt of the book(s). Call us for a prepaid UPS label for your return. It’s as simple and easy as that. Most importantly, standing orders mean you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you’re relying on. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.960.1220 or by sending an email to books@bna.com.
Put me on standing order at a 5% discount off list price of all future updates, in addition to any other discounts I may quality for. (Returnable within 30 days.)
Notify me when updates are available (No standing order will be created).
This Bloomberg BNA report is available on standing order, which ensures you will all receive the latest edition. This report is updated annually and we will send you the latest edition once it has been published. By signing up for standing order you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you need. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.372.1033, option 5, or by sending us an email to research@bna.com.
Put me on standing order
Notify me when new releases are available (no standing order will be created)