Sierra Club Says EPA Lacks Authority For ‘De Minimis’ Air Permit Exemptions

Sierra Club in a new legal brief is rejecting EPA’s defense of “significant impact level” (SIL) screening tools used to exempt some de minimis , or minimal, facility emissions from Clean Air Act permit reviews, with the group claiming the SILs undermine the permitting process and that the agency lacks a legal justification for using them. In a May 16 reply brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in litigation over the SILs,...