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• interstate transport • mercury • New Source Review • ozone • particulate matter • regional haze • Toxics Release Inventory

• New Source Review resources electric company members only • EEI committees and other resources

New Source Review

New Source Review (NSR) is one of the most complex and burdensome programs of the federal Clean Air Act.

The EPA’s NSR program requires electric companies that build new power plants to undergo review for environmental controls before construction work begins.  NSR also applies if electric companies modify their existing units by making "non-routine" physical or operational changes that result in a significant increase in emissions of a regulated pollutant from that source. 

Recently,  EPA began to apply NSR to routine system maintenance and repair activities.  This stricter interpretation of the program makes it difficult for electric companies to improve the efficiency of their generating units without triggering NSR enforcement.  

Relief is needed to reform the NSR program so that it does not impede safe, reliable, and affordable electricity.

Find out more below about the NSR program, EPA's enforcement actions against the industry, and how coal-based electric generators are improving their facilities.

• Straight Talk About Electric Companies and New Source Review 
• New Source Review — A History 
• What You Should Know About Electric Companies and New Source Review 
• How Power Plants Are Reducing Air Emissions  (coal plant diagram)
• Electric Companies Must Maintain Their Generating Units to Keep Power Plants Operating 

© 2008 Edison Electric Institute