Sierra Club, Air Alliance Houston, and 14 other environmental and health groups formally petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to close excess emission exemptions for facilities during startup, shutdown, and malfunction.
The exemption, under section 111 of the Clean Air Act, gives stationary facilities a free pass to emit excess pollution if operations have to suddenly start or stop during events like natural disasters.
Environmental groups have been fighting against startup, shutdown, and malfunction—or SSM—event exemptions for years, because fenceline environmental justice communities continue to bear the worst of the excess emissions.
The petition calls for a single rulemaking ...