NAPA backs EPA air permitting proposal, seeks additional clarity

NAPA wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of a proposal that would give state and local agencies greater flexibility in implementing minor source air permitting requirements, while urging the agency to clarify that the same flexibility applies to synthetic minor sources, including asphalt mix plants.

EPA’s proposal, released in July, aims to streamline federal air permitting requirements for certain new, smaller “minor source” facilities, such as concrete batch plants and rock-crushing operations. It also includes language addressing “synthetic” minor sources, a category that includes asphalt mix plants.

“NAPA urges EPA to confirm, in the final rule, that this discretionary treatment applies with equal force to synthetic minor source permitting actions, and that no mandatory public participation requirement should attach to synthetic minor permits any more than it does to true minor permits,” NAPA Vice President of Environment, Health & Safety Howard Marks wrote in a comment letter.

EPA’s proposal reflects the agency’s broader deregulatory approach to permitting. NAPA will continue advocating for regulatory relief for synthetic minor sources, including asphalt mix plants.