TIGHT DEADLINES FOR AREA SOURCE RULES MAY SPUR INNOVATIVE APPROACHES

Due to concerns that EPA faces tight court-ordered deadlines to issue 50 regulations for "area sources" of air toxics by 2009 at the latest, the agency may pursue innovative approaches for setting the standards that include issuing fewer rules for multiple source categories rather than source category-specific rules. Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in an Aug. 2 opinion in Sierra Club v. EPA that the agency failed to perform its duty...