Attorney General Bonta Joins Coalition Opposing Rollback of Air Pollution Permitting Program

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition in opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposal to allow construction to begin at major sources of air pollution without first obtaining a New Source Review (NSR) permit. An NSR permit is a pre-construction air pollution permit that ensures industrial facilities, factories, and power plants install modern pollution controls when they are newly built or undergo major modifications. The EPA's proposal would abandon a nearly 50-year-old approach to interpreting the Clean Air Act simply to satisfy new deregulatory policies and would constrain state permitting agencies, limit public participation, and ultimately harm the environment and public health.

"Weakening the New Source Review permitting process means more pollution and less accountability," said Attorney General Bonta. "Every person deserves clean air, and the EPA should be strengthening, not dismantling, the protections that keep our communities safe. We urge them to rescind this illegal proposal immediately."

In their comment letter to the EPA, the coalition explains that the Clean Air Act requires NSR permits to be obtained before construction of any portion of a major pollutant-emitting facility or source is started. Under the current process, residents are able to provide input and pose questions before construction begins at facilities near where they live and that may pollute the air that they breathe. This process is especially important for facilities to be constructed in lower-income communities and communities of color, which often already bear high pollution burdens. The proposal would deprive these communities of a fair opportunity to be heard before it may be too late to address their environmental concerns.

The coalition argues that the EPA cannot adopt its proposed regulatory language because it is contrary to law, as well as arbitrary and capricious.

In filing this letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, the cities of Chicago and New York and the California Air Resources Board.