Back in 2006, when I was Ohio EPA, I worked on Senate Bill 265 which was the first major overhaul in air pollution regulation in Ohio in over a decade. One component of S.B. 265 was to provide authority to Ohio EPA to regulate air toxics.
Prior to enactment of S.B. 265, Ohio EPA
Back in 2006, the Ohio Legislature passed Senate Bill 265 which was hailed as the biggest change to air pollution control regulations in Ohio in several decades. The center piece of the legislation was an exemption for smaller sources of air pollution (10 tons per year or less) from having to comply with Ohio’s Best Available
Today, Ohio EPA released its response to the federal court ruling which struck down the exemption from BAT for sources that emit less than 10 tons per year. The memo makes clear that it supplants the February 2nd e-mail instructing staff to not issue air permits until the ruling was evaluated.
There are few
Major uncertainty surrounds Ohio’s air permtting program. I use the term "certainty" because that was the buzz word utilized when business groups fought hard for major reforms that eventually were passed in Senate Bill 265 in 2006.
Back in 2006, business groups were concerned that Ohio’s system for issuing air permits was far more onerous and unpredictable than other
On February 3rd Magistrate Judge Mark Able of the U.S. District Court in Columbus ruled that Ohio EPA (and really the Ohio General Assembly) violated that federal Clean Air Act by exempting small air pollution sources from stringent air pollution requirements. At issue was one major overhaul of Ohio’s air regulation included in state legislation (Senate Bill 265) back
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Back in 2006, while I was still at Ohio EPA, a major piece of state legislation worked its way through the General Assembly. Senate Bill 265 was developed by business groups in Ohio to address concerns with the structure and implementation of Ohio air pollution permitting programs. The main target to be fixed was the
A lawsuit filed this week raises an important question about the relationship between the federal government and states pertaining to environmental regulations. At issue is how much flexibility state’s have to modify their air pollution control plans used to comply with federal air quality standards. As reported in the Columbus Dispatch, the Sierra Club has challenged
Ohio EPA recently received a letter from U.S. EPA’s Region V requesting justification for changes made to the State’s air pollution control plan. The changes to the State plan came about as a result of reform legislation passed by the Ohio Legislature in 2006. Much has recently been made about the letter sent by