New Source Review Permitting Improvement Act

This bill changes how the Clean Air Act treats upgrades at factories and power plants. A change only counts as a “modification” that needs a tougher air permit if the plant’s maximum hourly pollution rate would be higher than it was in any single hour during the past 10 years. Upgrades meant to cut pollution or improve safety or reliability would not count as a modification—unless the EPA finds the change would raise the maximum hourly pollution rate in a way that harms people’s health or the environment.

It also says that, for big facilities, a change doesn’t count as new “construction” or a “modification” if it doesn’t cause a significant increase in total annual emissions, including in areas that don’t meet air quality standards. The bill adds a safeguard saying it doesn’t newly treat any change as a “modification” if it wasn’t treated that way before this bill became law .

Key points

• Who is affected: Large stationary sources like factories and power plants, and nearby communities breathing the air.
• What changes: Tighter test for when upgrades trigger permits (uses a 10‑year “highest hourly rate” check); exemptions for pollution-control and safety/reliability projects unless they would harm health or the environment; changes without significant increases in annual emissions don’t count as new construction or modification, even in areas with poor air quality.
• What stays the same: It doesn’t expand what counts as a “modification” beyond how it was treated before this bill.