Environmental groups sued the EPA Wednesday over a Clean Air Act exception that wipes certain pollution events off the map during sudden facility startups and shutdowns.
The Environmental Protection Agency failed to close up “loopholes” that exempt accidental pollution releases within individual state air plans, according to the complaint filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and Environmental Integrity Project at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Those exemptions in State Implementation Plans under the Clean Air Act allow for emissions that are released from things like flaring
from petroleum refineries and petrochemical facilities ...