Edwards Amendment

Under the old law, cement kilns, incinerators, refineries, and other factories could not modify their plants in a way that significantly increased emissions above their average levels in the past two years, without getting a permit and installing pollution controls. Under the new rules, plants can increase pollution without a permit or pollution controls so long as their emissions don’t exceed their highest level in the past ten years. Examination of a refinery and steel mill by the Environmental Integrity Project showed how allowing companies to return to historically high pollution levels could increase emissions by hundreds of tons at a single plant site.

Under the old law, past emissions were calculated assuming normal plant operations. Under the new law, companies can include emissions from past accidents, even industrial catastrophes, to justify higher emissions in the future. In other words, a company can increase pollution without a New Source Review permit or pollution controls so long as that increase does not exceed its worst pollution in the past ten years from normal operations and industrial accidents.

Under the old law, an industrial plant could avoid a major permit review by limiting emission increases to minor levels. But companies were expected to report the steps they would take to limit emissions, and these limits were made part of their permit. Under the new rules, companies can decide on their own that their emissions will not increase, and are not required to report to state permit authorities or agree to permit limits. These emissions calculations must be kept on site for a limited time, but are no longer accessible to the public and violations become much harder to find and prosecute.

Under the old law, a plant subject to New Source Review had to install the best available pollution control technology. Under the new rule, "substantial equivalence" (or something less) is considered good enough.

The Bush Administration claims that pollution will not increase under new rules, but has rebuffed requests from Congress to explain how they will affect emissions and human health. Some parts of the final rule – like allowing past accidents to justify future pollution increases – were never even proposed for public comment.