TAKING THE CLEAN AIR ACT INTO THE 21 ST CENTURY AND BEYOND: A PROPOSAL TO STREAMLINE REGULATION TO IMPROVE U.S. ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
C. WILLIAM SMALLING I. INTRODUCTION ................................................ II. THE COSTS OF EPA REGULATIONS ON THE U.S. REFINING INDUSTRY ................................................
A. B. C. D. E. F.
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464 CAA Regulation of Greenhouse Gas................... 464 Prevention of Significant Deterioration(PSD) Permits ......... 464 New Source PerformanceStandards (NSPS)....... ..... 465 Cost Estimates Summary......................... 466 PotentialCap and Trade Legislation ................. 467 EthicalDilemmas ................. ................ 471
III. ABOLISHING THE EPA-BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES ................. 471 IV. PROPOSAL: CAA MODERNIZATION .......................... 472
A. B. C. V.
Why Modernize? ....................................... 472 Recommended Changes .............................. 473 CAA Modernization Would Have Positive Ethical Implicationsfor Attorneys......................... 473
CONCLUSION
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I.
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INTRODUCTION
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation, including Clean Air Act (CAA) greenhouse gas regulations, as well as potential cap and trade legislation, will negatively affect U.S. industry over time. Included in this Article is an example CAA impact analysis on the U.S. refining industry. Additionally, over-regulation is hurting efficiency and will hurt U.S. competitiveness overseas. One way to remove excess regulation that is gaining attention from some politicians is to abolish the EPA entirely. But abolishing the EPA would create many new challenges that would likely take many years of legislative maneuvering and litigation to sort out. This Article proposes a practical, alternative solution: the simplification and 463