AIR/WATER pollution report - BROYHILL CALLS FOR FLEXIBLE DEADLINES, MODIFIED PERCENT REDUCTION STANDARD

Oct 13, 2026

AIR/WATER pollution report covers federal and industry responses to Clean Air Act amendments, focusing on flexible, multi-date pollutant-specific deadlines and unresolved policy questions. It summarizes EPA efforts to delay or adjust regulatory schedules, including court and administrative processes for toxic effluent and air quality modeling concerns. The report details revised attainment deadline options, reinstated percentage reduction standards, exemptions for smaller industrial boilers, and sulfur reduction requirements tied to emission ranges and technology constraints, with enforcement and implementation-plan conditions discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

AIR/WATER pollution report

BROYHILL CALLS FOR FLEXIBLE DEADLINES, MODIFIED PERCENT REDUCTION STANDARD

# AIR/WATER pollution report Vol.19 No.33 August 17,1981 ◆ Broyhill Rewrite Calls for Flexible Air Act Deadlines .......................Page322 *EPA Seeks to Delay Court Schedule for Toxic Efluent Guidelines................Page 323 *Current Air Quality Models Called Inaccurate by Industry........................Page324 *Air Act Does Not Adequately Consider Economics,Populations,Areas................Page325 *Double Hulls Not Effective for All Tankers,NRC Says........................Page326 SLANTS&TRENDS STAFF MEMO CONCERNING REVISION of the Broyhill Clean Air Act amendments leaves various policyissues unresolved in what may be a move to negotiate with the Administration over the act's reauthorization.Some of the “key policy questions”left unanswered include removing the adequate margin of safety re-quirements in setting primary standards;incorporating risk analysis into setting primary standards and cost-benefit analysis into secondary standards;maintaining offset requirements for new sources in non-attainmentareas;eliminating prevention of significant deterioration(PSD)Class I short-term increments and visibilityrequirements;limiting regulated PSD pollutants to sulfur dioxide and particulates;and initiating actionsconcerning acid rain.Memo also expressed concern over the “political perception of the flexible,multi-date,pollutant-specific deadlines added to the bill.See story,p.322. SPECIFIC CLEAN AIR ACT PROPOSALS are circulating around the White House,James Miller,executivedirector of the President's Regulatory Relief Task Force,acknowledged last week.He said the Administrationair act position was intentionally “not locked in concrete”because it wants to work with Congress in comingout with a "bipartisan bill.”Vice President George Bush said he was “pleased”with reactions to the 11 "ba-sic principles"recently released by EPA(A/WPR,Aug.10,1981,p.313). EPA IS LIFTING CONSTRUCTION BAN on new stationary sources in portions of nonattainment areas thathave an approved state implementation plan for meeting Clean Air Act requirements(A/WPR,Aug.3,1981,p.301).Final package,unchanged from the proposal,was signed by the Administrator last week and appearsin today's Federal Register.Details next issue.Meanwhile,the Office of Management and Budget is sendingconflicting signals to EPA over a number of air regulations delayed under OMB review,including several SIPand new source performance standards(A/WPR,Aug.3,1981,p.305).EPA's Federal Register liaison officerreportedly received a phone call from David Stockman's office July 31 saying that some of the regulationswould be released despite OMB concerns over cost-effectiveness.However,word communicated to EPA onAug.12 was that the regulations will not be released yet and the agency will receive a memo stating OMB'sbelief that the air rules are "not in sync with the Executive Order [12291],"agency sources told A/WPR. ANOTHER IN A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS SERIES of court documents has been filed under the 1976 Nat-ural Resources Defense Council toxic water pollutant consent decree.This time it's the EPA seeking anotherrelaxed schedule for issuing effluent guidelines for 23 industries.U.S.District Court Judge Thomas Flanneryhas scheduled a hearing this week to set up a new briefing schedule on the decree.However,many Washing-ton observers expect the judge will agree with NRDC that the agency must stick to the deadlines it agreed toin the 1979 modification of the consent decree(see story,p.323).In another NRDC case,the U.S.Court ofAppeals for the District of Columbia has determined that all parties in the suit involving EPA's consolidatedpermits program must file briefs for issues not amenable to settlement by Sept.14.Pre-briefing conferenceis scheduled Sept.21.Meanwhile,EPA's Office of Water and Waste Management has a new acting AssistantAdministrator-Bruce Barrett,previously with Commerce Department's Office of Environmental Affairs(A/WPR,Aug.10,1981,p.311). AIR/WATER pollution

FAQs

What policy issues remain unresolved in the Broyhill Clean Air Act amendments?

The staff memo indicates key questions are unresolved, including changes to margin of safety requirements, integrating risk and cost-benefit analyses, offset requirements for new sources in non-attainment areas, and several PSD visibility and pollutant-limitation provisions, along with acid rain actions.

How does the report describe the revised bill’s options for attainment deadlines?

It states the 1982 or 1987 deadlines would be kept if attainable without unnecessary social or economic disruption, or replaced with a state- and EPA-agreed date tied to technology standards, or a date five years after a more stringent revised standard is set.

What changes does the report describe for the percentage reduction standard and boiler exemptions?

The report says a compromise percentage reduction standard is reinstated, exempting industrial boilers (25 megawatts or less). Utility boilers must meet a 75% sulfur reduction across the board when emissions fall within specified pounds-per-million-Btu ranges.

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Sophia Brooks