White House Directs EPA to Review Air Quality Standards and Permitting Process

INSIGHTi

White House Directs EPA to Review Air

Quality Standards and Permitting Process

name redacted

Analyst in Environmental Policy

April 26, 2018

A new White House memorandum directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review

and streamline Clean Air Act implementation. Its stated aims are to protect air quality “while reducing

unnecessary impediments to new manufacturing and business expansion.”

Since 2011, congressional actions on air quality issues have centered on EPA’s regulatory authority,

including EPA’s 2015 revision to ozone air quality standards. Two recent bills—H.R. 806 and S. 263—

would, among other things, delay designation of areas not meeting the ozone standards and extend EPA’s

review period for air quality standards from every five years to 10.

This Insight summarizes the memorandum’s directives and discusses considerations for Congress.

Background

The Clean Air Act seeks to protect human health and the environment from air pollution. The provisions

most relevant to the memorandum include those that establish health-based air quality standards, address

interstate and international emissions transport, and restore visibility in national parks and wilderness

areas.

Notwithstanding the undisputed air quality progress since 1970, several challenges remain to reduce

pollution in areas exceeding federal standards and to continue protection in areas meeting the standards.

For example, the movement of air pollutants across state borders poses difficulties for states whose air

quality is affected by emissions from upwind jurisdictions. Some states are concerned about emissions

transported from other countries.

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Memorandum’s Directives

The memorandum presents air quality management goals—such as timely petition reviews—but does not

prescribe particular methods. This section summarizes the directives in the context of the statutory

provisions.

Air Quality Standards

The Clean Air Act establishes roles for federal and state agencies. EPA establishes minimum national air

quality standards—National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)—and is required to review them

every five years. States adopt State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to ensure compliance with the standards.

EPA reviews SIPs to ensure they meet statutory requirements. The act requires EPA, under certain

conditions, to impose sanctions and to issue a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) if a state fails to submit

or implement an adequate SIP.

The White House memorandum directs EPA to review the multi-step process for setting and revising

NAAQS—in particular, to assess the transparency of the science reviews, develop guidance

differentiating science and policy considerations, and seek Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee

advice regarding background pollution and potential adverse effects from NAAQS compliance strategies.

The memorandum is silent on prior Administrations’ reviews, which have considered the “timeliness,

scientific integrity and transparency” of the NAAQS review process.

NAAQS Implementation and Permitting Programs

The memorandum directs EPA to review related “existing rules, guidance, memoranda, and other public

documents,” including preconstruction permit applications. It directs EPA to determine whether to revise

or rescind any of these documents, consistent with the law, and to improve the timeliness of SIP and

permit decisions. Some of the memorandum’s timeline goals reiterate EPA’s statutory deadlines (e.g., for

SIP approvals and permit reviews). The memorandum’s timeline goal for preconstruction permit issuance

may be less relevant, however, given that states issue most of these permits.

The memorandum directs EPA to issue NAAQS implementation regulations and guidance concurrent

with the NAAQS revisions. Historically, EPA has issued implementation regulations and guidance, in

collaboration with states, subsequent to the NAAQS revisions.

International Emissions and Exceptional Events

The act authorizes EPA to provide regulatory relief, under certain conditions, for air emissions deemed

beyond the control of a state. For example, monitoring data from exceptional events—unusual or

naturally occurring events affecting air quality—may be excluded from determinations of NAAQS

compliance status (“Section 319(b) petitions”). EPA may also approve SIPs that demonstrate that an area

would have met NAAQS if not for emissions from another country (“Section 179B petitions”). The

memorandum directs EPA to ensure timely processing of these petitions; the statute does not specify

deadlines for them.

The memorandum directs EPA to consider Section 179B petitions from any state—not just those

bordering Canada and Mexico—and to consider whether emissions from Asia affect domestic air quality.

EPA has previously considered international transport: The 2015 ozone rule discussed ozone precursor

emissions that can contribute to “background” levels and described outreach to other countries, including

China (p. 65443). While Section 179B does not limit the petitions to particular states, EPA’s 2016

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comment solicitation suggested that international ozone may have greatest influence in areas “in the

immediate vicinity of Mexico or Canada.”

The memorandum’s directives also address use of modeling data and, in the context of intrastate and

regional emissions trading, development and implementation of offset policies in rural areas.

Regional Haze

The White House memorandum directs EPA to review FIPs issued under the Regional Haze program,

which limits pollution impairing visibility in certain national parks and wilderness areas, and to replace

such FIPs with approvable SIPs. EPA previously announced plans to review a 2017 Regional Haze rule

but has not specified whether it will address the memorandum’s directives.

Issues for Congressional Consideration

The effect of the President’s memorandum is unclear, given that it does not specify changes EPA is to

make. Separately, EPA has announced initiatives related to the memorandum’s goals: EPA established an

Ozone Cooperative Compliance Task Force, issued new guidance for preconstruction permitting,

proposed new requirements for use of scientific studies in rulemaking, and plans to issue new exceptional

events guidance.

Issues for Congress may include

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The effect of EPA’s initiatives on federal-state partnerships, including how they would

affect EPA’s statutory obligation to set health-based air quality standards and oversee

state implementation.

Whether the act provides sufficient clarity about international pollution impacts on

domestic air quality or if this determination should remain at EPA’s discretion. It is

unclear how EPA will define background emissions in future actions while it pursues its

stated goal to maximize flexibility of Section 179B petitions and other regulatory relief

tools.

Proposals to modify the statute based on reviews of the NAAQS process and other

programs.

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