Permitting under the Clean Air Act of 1990

The Clean Air Act of 1990 is coming to town. Congress, anticipating the paperwork blizzard from permits, allows states to assess permit fees of at least $25 per ton of pollutant emitted, plus $15 per ton in nonattainment areas, to help fund the program. Many states will charge more in order to pay for processing all the permitting paperwork. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has 12 months to issue a final rule on air pollution permits. States will be required to implement the permit program within three years after the final rule is published. EPA has review authority and can veto a state's program. There is no grandfather clause for old permits. Facilities with current state and federal permits must obtain new permits from the state agencies. The law contains continuous monitoring provisions to obtain certain permits. The continuous monitoring reports will be submitted to the state and to EPA and will be available to the public. Permit and record keeping provisions make it a felony to submit incomplete permit applications or to be late in paying the permit fees. Penalties include up to one year in jail; fines would be multiplied by the number of days each violation continues.more » Substantial violations of the Act carry five-year jail terms plus heavy fines. Facilities that operate without a permit will face $25,000-per-day-per-violation fines, and company executives will face one year in jail.« less