Appellate Court Backs Use Of SILs In Air Permits As EPA Readies Guide

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is backing Louisiana air regulators’ use of “significant impact levels” (SILs) to approve a gas export terminal’s air permit, reinforcing the legality of the screening tools ahead of EPA guidance that will address environmentalists’ concerns that SILs enable industry to emit excess pollution. Environmentalists have long contested the legality of SILs, which are EPA-set values that are used to determine whether emissions increases from an industrial source “contribute” to air quality...