James M. Jeffords: “This administration's record in responding to legitimate oversight by Congress has been dismal on this matter. Though…”

“This administration's record in responding to legitimate oversight by Congress has been dismal on this matter. Though the agency will not respond honestly, independent analyses done by Abt Associates for the Environmental Integrity Project demonstrates that these new rules are likely to lead to significant increases in pollution at various types of facilities. These case studies can be found at www.refund.org/eit/docs/abill-mobil.pdf and abtin-nucor2.pdf. The association of States' air administrators have expressed concerns about these rules and asked that their effective date be deferred until March 2004. Nine Attorneys General, from Vermont and other States, have filed suit against the Agency for violating the Clean Air Act and other statutes through these rules. These rules allow sources to inflate their emissions baselines, or to be designated as so-called 'clean units' for a decade or more. That way, even modifications that increase emissions will not trigger NSR and the use of better, more effective pollution controls. As Assistant Administrator Jeff Holmstead has confirmed to Congress in testimony, these new revisions to major NSR applicability criteria would exclude an estimated 50 percent of sources that might otherwise be subject to major NSR.”