How will the NSR reforms improve the environment?
• Our reforms will remove the obstacles to environmentally beneficial projects, clarify NSR requirements, encourage emissions reductions, promote pollution prevention, provide incentives for energy efficient improvements, and help assure worker and plant safety. Overall, our reforms will clarify and simplify the program so that industry will be able to make improvements to their plants that will result in greater environmental protection. 2. Why does NSR need to be fixed? • EPA’s in-depth study of the NSR program has shown that it has an adverse impact on investment in expanding and preserving capacity, as well as in energy efficiency. It found that investment is hindered by (1) regulatory uncertainty and lack of flexibility resulting from confusion about the program’s requirements, and (2) the added costs and delays imposed by the NSR process the NSR permit process can add a year or more to the time needed to review proposed plant modifications, and cost over $1 million. As a result,
