Industry, and especially utilities, stretched Clean Air Act rules past their breaking point, according to a string of recent court decisions. These decisions reject efforts to craft a broad exemption from the Clean Air Act requirement to install modern pollution controls when substantial repairs occur at existing sources. These decisions, combined with recent EPA rulemaking, should dictate substantial changes in how facilities evaluate projects to restore efficiency to existing equipment.
In the most publicized decision, U.S. v. Ohio Edison (No. 2:99-CV-1181, N.D. Ohio), the court decided that Ohio Edison made major modifications to its Sammis generating station without the required new source review permits under the Clean Air Act. When Ohio Edison approved the projects, it generally characterized them as life-extension projects to improve efficiency and reliability. Although the court criticized inconsistent EPA enforcement of its rules, the court easily found that the projects
