42 May 2004 EM EM News Focus Clean Air Act Advisory Committee to Study Ways to Revise State Implementation Plan Process The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act (CAA) Advisory Committee will study ways to trans- form, and possibly replace, the process by which states formulate detailed plans for implementing the CAA’s re- quirements. “Now is the time to think again on the Clean Air Act,” said Rob Brenner, deputy assistant EPA adminis- trator for air and radiation, in announcing the study at a March 24 advisory committee meeting. The committee will establish a special subcommittee, Brenner said, to review the recommendations in a Jan. 29 report issued by the Na- tional Research Council on Air Quality Management in the United States. The report said the nation has made tremen- dous progress in reducing air pollution since the CAA was enacted in 1970, but that significant challenges remain. The subcommittee will study several of the report’s recommenda- tions, including transformation of the state implementation plan (SIP) process. SIPs describe how states will attain EPA air qual- ity standards for a variety of pollutants and how they maintain compliance. Focus on Five Recommendations Brenner sent a memorandum March 5 to committee members proposing that the subcommittee focus on five recommend- ations in the National Research Council report: • strengthening scientific and technical capacity, such as enhanced air pollution monitoring and improved moni- toring; • expanding national and multistate pollution control strategies, in place of single-state programs; • transforming the SIP process by replacing the plans with multipollutant air quality management plans; • developing integrated programs for criteria and hazard- ous air pollutants; and • enhancing the protection of ecosystems and the public welfare. At the meeting, Brenner proposed asking the subcommit- tee to complete its study of how these recommendations can be implemented by the end of the year. Anyone on the advi- sory committee may serve on the new subcommittee, Brenner said, and it will solicit participation from a range of stake- holders in industry, state and local governments, and environmental groups. Brenner told BNA the subcommittee will study possible responses to the National Research Coun- cil report, but not make recommendations for wholesale reforms to the CAA. S. William Becker, executive director of the State and Terri- torial Air Pollution Program Administrators and Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, told BNA that replac- ing the SIP process with a set of specific requirements for each industry across a range of pollutants would improve air quality, while reducing the bureaucracy involved in en- forcing the CAA. It also would increase certainty for industry, Becker said. Task Force on Title V At the same meeting, William Harnett, director of EPA’s Infor- mation Transfer and Program Integration Division, told BNA that the agency is planning to convene a task force on imple- mentation of Title V of the CAA. Enacted by Congress in 1990, Title V requires states to issue permits to stationary sources establishing all the emissions limits that apply to them under various CAA programs. Harnett said EPA pro- posed a rule in 1994 on implementation of Title V, but never finalized it. The agency realized that before it goes ahead and finalizes the rule, it wants to learn from the experience of 14 years of issuing Title V permits. Harnett said EPA will publish a notice in the Federal Register soliciting participa- tion in the task force and also will seek input from a variety of stakeholders.—by Steve Cook, BNA Ellis Environmental Group, Gainesville, FL, has been awarded an environmental services contract by the U.S. Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence. Ellis and a team of subcontractors—Fluor Federal Services, Golder Associates Inc., Clean Ventures/Cycle Chem, and Austin Brockenbrough & Associates—will share the $10 billion worth of potential work over the next eight years, providing services in the areas of design, construction, and environmental restoration at U.S. Air Force bases worldwide. Startech Environmental Corp., Wilton, CT, has signed a contract worth more than $34 million with Italian company FP Immobiliare srl to manufacture and deliver two 50-ton- per-day Plasma Converter Systems to process electronic waste and specialty waste at a new FP Immobiliare facility near Rome. Business Briefs News Focus is compiled from the current edition of Environ- ment Reporter, published by the Bureau of National Affairs Inc. (BNA). For more information, visit www.bna.com.