This schedule must include deadlines designed to force the facility to comply with federal requirements. Enforcing the law Although federally-mandated air quality requirements can be enforced by the federal government and by the public through citizen suits, the state has primary responsibility. In 1999, the U.S. EPA brought a lawsuit against four of Ohio's coal plants for failing to install required pollution controls. Based on this failure, any Title V permits issued by the Ohio EPA to any one of these facilities must contain an enforceable compliance schedule designed to bring the plant into compliance with modern standards for nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide under the Clean Air Act's Prevention of Significant Deterioration programs. But the Ohio EPA is poised to issue these defective permits without the required compliance schedules.
Bad permits mean more bad air and even more bad health.
Our plan We can and must stop the Ohio EPA in its tracks. Using the Title V permit approval process, we will be filing petitions with the Ohio EPA that call on the agency to tear up their defective draft permits and rewrite them so they comply with the law. Specifically, we will call on Governor Bob Taft to tell Ohio EPA to include all the applicable air quality limitations and standards in these permits. Even though Gov. Taft didn t create this problem, he can and must help to solve it. We will also call on the agency to reopen the public comment period so citizens can have their say.