Forum: time to retire grandfather?

When Congress 'grandfathered' existing coal-fired power plants form its strictest regulatory standards in the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments, it was on the expectation that the old plants would soon be closed. Nearly a quarter century later, federal and state agencies are suing eight power companies for allegedly making substaintial modifications to dozens of plants without undergoing the stringent New Source Review permitting procedure that brand-new plants must face. The result, say the agencies, is longer lives for the plants, and more pollution. The companies argue that the modifications don't cross the threshold that would make the plants subject to New Source Review. At the same time, the whole concept of New Source Review is under scrutiny -even attack- by a wide range of interests. New sources must install prescribed Best Available Control Technology in CAA attainment areas for a particular pollutant, while new sources in non-attainment areas must install even stricter Lowest Achievable Emissions Rate technology. Both methods are costly, offer industry little alternative in compliance, and discourage the entry of cleaner technologies, critics say.As a result of all this controversy, some members of Congress are considering banishing or significantly amending New Source Review to grant business more flexibility to innovate in meeting the act's pollution abatement and public health goals. The end of grandfathering has also been featured in congressional proposals. Meanwhile, EPA officials are talking about reforms of their own to rationalize the permitting process for all power plants, new and old. Is it time to end grandfathering, so that old coal-fired plants can be retired? And is it time to look at the New Source Review program to see if it shouldn't beretired -or rejuvenated- at the same time? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]