The US Environmental Protection Agency will invite public comment this summer on a proposal to change the way regulators oversee smokestack pollution from oil refineries and other industrial plants, an agency spokesperson said on Tuesday. The EPA declined to specify whether its proposal would apply just to oil refineries or be extended to other industrial plants such as power generators. Environmental groups have voiced suspicions that the Bush administration wants regulators to relax enforcement of the Clean Air Act and allow the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants to expand output without cutting polluting emissions.

"EPA is recommending changes in this proposal that address recommendations the agency made in the 2002 Report to the President. We expect to issue this proposal in early summer," a spokesperson said. But EPA did confirm that it was asking the White House`s regulatory arm, the Office of Management and Budget, to sign off on a rule aimed at reducing paperwork and clarifying how the agency tracks emissions for certain plant operations.

Specifics on the impending proposed rule, first detailed broadly in a brief Web site filing to the White House April 7, remain elusive. But refining officials familiar with the evolving plan embraced the agency`s latest action. Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, said in a written statement to Reuters that it is his understanding that EPA is considering a proposal to change the way the agency monitors refinery maintenance. This would specifically affect debottlenecking projects, which involve changes to equipment to make the refining process more efficient.

"Given concerns among policymakers and analysts regarding the ability of the domestic refining industry and traditional sources of imports to meet increasing demand both here in the United States and abroad, NPRA believes that this is an appropriate time to make certain that debottlenecking activities with little or no appreciable environmental impact are not blocked or discouraged," he said.

When a refiner wants to modify a section of a plant that could change how other plant equipment operates, the so-called "debottlenecking" now has to be reviewed by EPA on a case by case basis. Similarly, if a plant operator makes modifications to several units in a facility at the same time, otherwise known as "aggregation," this also triggers a specific agency review because of concern the change would mean more emissions.

EPA said in its notice to OMB that if a company commits to keep its facility emissions below its agreed level, called a "Plantwide Applicability Limit," then the proposed rules "would provide flexibility for sources to respond rapidly to market changes without compromising environmental protection." The agency`s proposal is the latest effort to change clean air plant pollution rules that are loathed by industry.

A federal appeals court on March 17 struck down a Bush administration rule that would have made it easier for coal-burning power plants to make equipment changes without installing controls to fight the pollution that would result. The court shot down EPA`s ongoing effort to let plant owners only install modern pollution fighting controls if equipment changes cost more than 20 percent of the replacement cost of the plant.
(Planet Ark, 13/04/2006)