                    FACT SHEET:  New Source Review (NSR)

What is New Source Review?

New Source Review (NSR) is a Clean Air Act program that requires
industrial facilities to install modern pollution control equipment when
they are built or when making a change that increases emissions
significantly.  The program accomplishes this when owners or operators
obtain permits limiting air emissions before they begin construction. 
For that reason, NSR is commonly referred to as the “preconstruction
air permitting program.”

The purpose of the NSR program is to protect public health and the
environment, even as new industrial facilities are built and existing
facilities expand.  Specifically, its purpose is to ensure that air
quality:

does not worsen where the air is currently unhealthy to breathe (i.e.
nonattainment areas)

is not significantly degraded where the air is currently clean (i.e.
attainment areas)

What are permits? 

Permits are enforceable legal documents that an industrial facility, or
stationary source, must comply with. Permits may place restrictions on: 

What construction is allowed 

What air emission limits must be met 

How the source can be operated

To assure that sources comply with a permit’s emission limits, a
permit almost always contains monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting
requirements.

What pollutants are regulated under the NSR program?

The NSR program applies to regulated NSR pollutants.  In the PSD
program, the regulated NSR pollutants include the National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) pollutants and some other pollutants including
sulfuric acid mist, hydrogen sulfide, etc.  In nonattainment NSR, the
regulated NSR pollutants are only the NAAQS pollutants.  

EPA sets NAAQS for six principal pollutants, which are commonly called
"criteria" pollutants and include:  ozone, carbon monoxide, particulate
matter, sulfur dioxide, lead, and nitrogen oxide.   The NAAQS are set at
levels that protect human health and the environment.  

For each criteria pollutant, every area of the United States has been
designated as one of the following categories:

Attainment:  air quality is equal to or better than the level of the
NAAQS; these areas must maintain clean air

Unclassifiable:  there are no data on air quality for the area; the area
is treated as attainment

Nonattainment:  air quality is worse than the level of the NAAQS; these
areas must take actions to improve air quality and attain the NAAQS
within a certain period of time

What are the types of NSR permitting programs and what do they require?

There are three types of NSR permitting programs, each with a different
set of requirements.  A facility may have to meet one or more of these
sets of permitting requirements. 

Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program applies to a new
major source or a source making a major modification in an attainment
area.  The program requirements include:

Installation of the Best Available Control Technology (BACT)

Emission limitation based on the maximum degree of emission reduction
(considering energy, environmental, and economic impacts) achievable
through application of production processes and available methods,
systems, and techniques

An Air Quality Analysis 

Assesses existing air quality and predicts through modeling the ambient
concentrations that will result from the proposed project and future
growth associated with the project

An Additional Impacts Analysis

Assesses the impacts of air, ground, and water pollution on soils,
vegetation and visibility caused by any increase in emissions of any
regulated pollutant from the source or modification under review

Public Involvement 

Opportunities include public comment period, hearings, appeals, etc.
during the permit issuance process. 

Nonattainment NSR program applies to a new major source or a source
making a major modification in a nonattainment area.  The program
requirements include:

Installation of the Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER)

The rate of emissions that reflects:  (1) the most stringent emission
limitation included in the implementation plan of any state for a
similar source unless the facility owner or operator demonstrates such
limitations are not achievable; or (2) the most stringent emissions
limitation achieved in practice, whichever is more stringent.

Emission Offsets

To avoid increases in emissions, proposed emissions increases from new
or modified facilities are balanced by equivalent or greater reductions
from existing sources.

Public Involvement 

Opportunities include public comment period, hearings, appeals, etc.
during the permit issuance process. 

Minor NSR program applies to a new minor source and/or a minor
modification at both major and minor sources, in both attainment and
nonattainment areas.  Minor NSR may apply to criteria pollutants as well
as other pollutants depending on the state.  The program requirements
include:

New sources or modifications at existing sources must comply with any
emissions control measures required by the state.  

The program must not interfere with attainment or maintenance of the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards or the control strategies of a
State Implementation Plan (SIP) or Tribal Implementation Plan (TIP).  

An implementation plan is a set of programs and regulations developed by
the appropriate regulatory agency in order to assure that the NAAQS are
attained and maintained.  

Who issues the permits? 

Usually NSR permits are issued by state or local air pollution control
agencies. State, tribal and local air pollution control agencies may
have developed their own NSR permit programs, as part of their State
Implementation Plans (SIP) or Tribal Implementation Plans (TIP), that
are approved by EPA or they may be delegated the authority to issue
permits on behalf of EPA.   If a state or a tribe chooses not to develop
a SIP or a TIP and also not seek delegation of the federal NSR programs,
EPA would implement the programs and issue the NSR permit, as we do for
the PSD program in Indian country.

What sources are regulated under NSR?

The NSR permitting program applies to both: major and minor stationary
sources.

Major sources are facilities that have the potential to emit pollutants
in amounts equal to or greater than the corresponding major source
threshold levels. These threshold levels vary by pollutant and/or source
category. Major sources must comply with specific emission limits; which
are generally more stringent in nonattainment areas. 

	

Minor sources are facilities that have the potential to emit pollutants
in amounts less than the corresponding major source thresholds.

Synthetic minor sources are facilities that have the potential to emit
pollutants at or above the major source threshold level, but voluntarily
accept enforceable limits to keep their emissions below the major source
thresholds and avoid the major NSR requirements.

Where can I find additional information about NSR?

EPA’s NSR Web site:   HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/nsr/" 
http://www.epa.gov/nsr/ 

The NSR Web site provides links to regulations, publications and state
permitting contacts pertaining to New Source Review

