Lynn Schenkman

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added an equipment-replacement provision to the New Source Review (NSR) program, which will expand the definition of routine maintenance to allow older industrial plants to make upgrades without installing certain pollution controls. The rule excuses plants that are upgrading their equipment from paying for additional pollution-control devices for up to 20 percent of the cost of the new equipment. The attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts threatened to sue the Bush administration over these changes, according to news sources.