by W. Henson Moore (NAPSA)—In 1961 American author Joseph Heller wrote his award-winning war satire “Catch22”. Thetitle refers to a situation whosedesired outcome is impossible becauseof illogical rules governing the situation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a whopper of a Catch22 in its New Source Review (NSR) program. The program applies to businesses, but if it applied to everyday citizens here’s how it might play out: Let’s say your car passes its annual emissions inspection and a few months later you decide to spend $20 on a newoil filter. You apply to the EPA for a permit for the new filter. After 18 months of waiting around, the EPA gets back to you. They tell you they have completed an environmental impact study of your new oil filter and have concluded the new filter will make your car operate more efficiently. Good news? Not to the EPA. They further conclude this means you will begin driving your car much more, thus polluting more. To guard against these potential increased emissions, EPA makes you install a new catalytic converter which costs $350. Makes you want to get a few more miles out of the old oilfilter, doesn’t it? Now imagine that Catch-22 on an industrial scale. After decades of bureaucratic tinkering, NSR has become a stumbling block to the routine maintenance that keeps a plant operating safely, and even for simple projects that would have clear environmental and energy benefits. wanted to change its boiler to reduce air pollution and save about $1 million per year on the plant’s natural gas bill. But the EPA said the change would increase “potential emissions” at the plant and demanded theinstallation of $17 million worth of pollution control technologies to “reduce” these phony “potential emissions.” Of course, the project was killed— nobody is going to invest $17 million to save $1 million. Now, President Bush is poised to announce much-needed NSR reforms. Without even looking at the President’s proposals, environmental activists have declared any change to the program will harm the environment. It’s time to clear the air about NSR reform. Environmental regulations should encourage companies to reduce pollution, not force them to abandon beneficial projects. Mr. Moore is president and CEO of the American Forest and Paper Association and former Deputy Secretary of Energy under former President George Bush.
