NTAA
PO Box 15004, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5004
Phone: (928) 523-0526
Fax: (928) 523-1266 Andy.Bessler@nau.edu
NTAA Air Topics:
Tribal New Source Review (NSR) Rule
ATTENTION: The NTAA and EPA have formed a Tribal NSR Workgroup to assist in developing appropriate guidance documents, model
permits and to answer the many questions regarding implementation of the rule. The workgroup has been holding calls - to read the
notes from those calls and get more info, please click here.
Overview
Congress established the New Source Review (NSR) permitting program as part of the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments. NSR is a
preconstruction permitting program that serves two important purposes.
First, it ensures that air quality is not significantly degraded from the addition of new and modified factories, industrial
boilers and power plants. In areas with unhealthy air, NSR assures that new emissions do not slow progress toward cleaner air.
In areas with clean air, especially pristine areas like national parks, NSR assures that new emissions do not significantly
worsen air quality.
Second, the NSR program assures people that any large new or modified industrial source in their neighborhoods will be as clean
as possible, and that advances in pollution control occur concurrently with industrial expansion.
NSR permits are legal documents that the facility owners/operators must abide by. The permit specifies what construction is allowed,
what emission limits must be met, and often how the emissions source must be operated.
Significance to Tribes
Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that the New Source Review (NSR) program be established to protect public health and
welfare, national parks, and wilderness areas as new sources of pollution are built or existing sources modified. The program is
designed to ensure that new sources of pollution are constructed to be as clean as possible, recognizing that facility construction
is typically the most economical time to incorporate state-of-the-art pollution prevention practices or air pollution control
technologies. The EPA is filling a regulatory gap by developing New Source Review Rules for Indian country, which will establish
a preconstruction permitting program for minor stationary sources throughout Indian country and major stationary sources located
in nonattainment in Indian Country. Final promulgation of the Tribal NSR FIP is expected in the final quarter of FY 2010.
