GRANDFATHERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION: THE LAW AND ECONOMICS OF NEW SOURCE REVIEW.

The article discusses how the U.S. government enforced the amended Clean Air Act upon grandfathered plants which predated it. Under the 1970 amendment to the Clean Air Act, the Congress decided to subject new sources of air pollution to emission control standards. In the succeeding years, the government required grandfathered plant, which predates the amendment, to be subjected to the same federal standards applied to new sources if a modification caused the plant to emit more pollutants. The desirability of expanded grandfathering of existing sources as a form of transition relief is examined.