WASHINGTON (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that 13 previously approved State Implementation Plans for meeting Clean Air Act requirements are actually "substantially inadequate," because they do not apply Prevention of Significant Deterioration requirements to greenhouse gas emitting sources.
The states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming.
Separate deadlines for submitting corrected plans have been established for each state based on when the state submitted its implementation plan.
If a state fails to submit a revised plan by the deadline, the EPA plans to issue a finding that the state has failed to submit a required revision and immediately issue a federal implementation plan for the state.
Permits to issue greenhouse gases may only be obtained if an approved Prevention of Significant Deterioration plan is in place, so new or remodeled facilities that will emit the gases may have construction and operations delays.
Prevention of Significant Deterioration plans require the use of the best available control technology for greenhouse gases at new or substantially remodeled facilities, and require public involvement in developing air quality impact analyses on such facilities.
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