Under the Clean Air Act as amended, every “new source” of air emission must seek a new source review permit. When the Clean Air Act was initially passed, certain types of facilities were “grand fathered” from the strict requirements of the Act for the installation of pollution control equipment. Power plants, refineries and chemical plants were among the grand fathered facilities. As a result, language was built into the “new source” language that a “new source” included a “major repair or modification” to an existing source. The congressional intention was that the grand fathered facilities would meet all of the environmental requirements when they had completed their natural lives and had to be rebuilt. According to environmentalists, the plants were instead extended by incremental additions without necessary environmental upgrades. In fact, the appropriate regulatory authorities approved almost all of the disputed additions over a period of years.
