CRITICS SAY NEW OHIO PLAN RELAXING NSR UNDERMINES KEY EPA CLAIMS

Recent changes the Ohio state legislature adopted easing the state's minor new source review (NSR) permitting program undermine Bush administration claims that relaxing the federal NSR program would not hurt the environment because state programs would serve as "backstops," critics say. State sources and environmentalists critical of the Bush NSR reforms fear the push in Ohio could be a model for industry efforts to relax another aspect of the controversial Clean Air Act program. One environmentalist describes the combined relaxing...