‘Plantwide’ Refinery Air Permit Spurs Dueling EPA Appeals Board Cases

A Trump EPA-issued air permit for an oil refiner based in the U.S. Virgin Islands is spurring dueling cases before the agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), with the company seeking to scrap a novel environmental justice emissions monitoring mandate while environmentalists pursue a challenge claiming the permit is too weak. EPA Region 2, which includes the U.S. Virgin Islands, in December issued a plantwide applicability limit (PAL) permit for the Limetree Bay refinery in St. Croix, enabling the facility to...