The Clean Air Act's New Source Review Program: Beneficial to Public Health or Merely a Smoke-and-Mirrors Scheme?

Abstract

This article discusses critical issues affecting both our nation's environmental laws and public health in the context of electric utility regulation. First, the article presents the history of the Clean Air Act and its New Source Review program from a public health perspective. Next, the article focuses on the Environmental Protection Agency's attempts to undermine both the New Source Review program and our nation's public health because of political and economic interests. Finally, the article concludes by dissecting the United States Supreme Court decision in Duke Energy and by assessing the future of the New Source Review program in a post-Duke Energy world.

Keywords: Clean Air Act, New Source Review, Prevention of Significant Deterioration, emissions, public health, coal-fired power plant, utility regulation, EPA, mercury, carbon dioxide, Supreme Court, Duke Energy